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^(BtmMg 5r^»(U§I^l?^ 



FAMILY PEAYEES, 



FROM THE 



SACRED SCRIPTURES, THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, 

AND APPROVED AUTHOKS, 



FOR EVERY 



iHormng anir (Bvmr\% IrurinQ a iJlontlj. 

Revised from a London Work, 
BY 

HENRY V. D. JOHNS, D.D. 

BALTIMORE: 
ARMSTRONG & BERRY, 

No. 166 Market Street. 

1850, 



2 







Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1850, 

By Aemstrong & Bebey, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Maryland. 



JOHN D. TOY, PRINTER. 



ly 



PREFA CE. 



This collection of family prayers was 
originally published by the London Religious 
Tract Society, and is now revised and adapted 
to the uses of christian people in the United 
States. The publisher has added a Calender 
of Scripture Lessons, prepared by the Rev. 
Mr. Bickersteth, of Watton, England, which 
he trusts may afford some aid in the instruction 
of the family : and also a series of questions 
for self-examination, designed to serve the uses 
of a finger-board by the way, and to point the 
secluded anxious inquirer to the true grounds 
of christian hope. He makes this addition, 
under the firm conviction, that where family 
prayer and exposition are duly performed, 
cases of true conviction of sin, and conversion 
to God, will occur — and, that often, a silent 
counsellor may be found of unspeakable value 



6 PREFACE. 

at such a crisis. Let then, the anxious soul 
take these questions, read and pray over them, 
and thus feel his way^ to an early interview 
with his pastor. The importance of personal 
pastoral communication, when the heart is 
touched and moved to seek religion, cannot be 
too strongly inculcated. O that our people 
would never withhold from us even the first 
buddings of anxiety to know the Lord. 

Generally speaking, the best time for family 
worship is the morning, before breakfast, and 
the evening, immediately after supper. In 
conducting the exercise, let the father, and in 
his absence, the mother, read a psalm or hymn, 
to be sung where it is practicable: then follow 
with a short selection, say, fifteen or twenty 
verses, from the Calender of Scripture Les- 
sons, explaining the same in a brief and prac- 
tical manner, and endeavouring to give their 
teachings a bearing upon the events of the 
day; and afterwards, conclude with prayer — 
always using the Lord's Prayer in the morning, 
at the end of the performance, and the "Grace" 
after it. 



PREFACE. 7 

Mr. Bickersteth quotes Matthew Henry, as 
saying, " They who pray, do well : they who 
pray and read the scriptures, do better : they 
who pray and read and sing, do best." The 
only danger is, of making the exercise too 
long, and thus wearying the young, and repel- 
ling the active and busy, by the apprehension 
of too great interference with the operations 
of the day. Reasonable regard should there- 
fore be had to brevity. 

Every parent should try to attain the " holy 
skill" of judicious exposition of scripture at 
family worship. How happy the opportunity 
thus afforded of conveying reproof, instruction, 
encouragement and counsel to the young — 
speaking to them what we wish to say, backed 
by the authority of God's Word. The family 
altar might thus be so served as to be not 
only a " venerable custom," but a daily spring 
of blessings, indispensably necessary for the 
comfort and welfare of the whole household. 

The publisher believes that the pious ob- 
servance of family prayer, and the good old 
custom of " grace at the table," may be safely 



8 PREFACE. 

taken as a true standard by which to try the 
rise or fall of real religion in any community. 
In a country like ours, the daily prayer in 
churches is generally attended, even in our 
towns and cities, by but a very small part of 
the population ; but in the family, all can be 
present. Hence, it is held, that the only really 
available daily service, for the masses of the 
people of this wide-spread land, must be in 
the family. The hope is therefore cherished 
that the addition which is now made to the 
many excellent manuals of prayer, already 
published, may afford increased facility for a 
most salutary exercise. 

In apostolic times, salutations were sent to 
churches in particular houses. The publisher 
believes such are still to be found, and that 
there are many of them, in places endeared to 
him, by the recollections of sweet and holy 
hours of christian intercourse. He therefore 
sends this volume as his sincere and affectionate 
christian salutation to an extensive circle of 
beloved friends, in Trinity Church, Washing- 
ton, D. C; All Saint's Parish, Frederick- 



PREFACE. 9 

Town; St. Andrew's and Christ Churches, 
Baltimore, Maryland ; and St. Paul's, Cincin- 
nati, Ohio. 

May it please the Lord to bless each scrip- 
tural effort, however feeble, thus to assist the 
devotions of his people ! 

HENRY V. D. JOHNS, 

Lanvale Street, 
Baltimore, iVbt?. 19, 1849. 



Ora — labora 

Sic levis labor. 
Sic brevia hora. 



2 



JANUARY. 

Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. 



1 


a 


2 


b 


8 


c 


4 


d 


5 


e 


6 


f 


7 


i? 


8 


a 


9 


b 


10 


c 


11 


d 


12 


e 


13 


f 


14 


^ 


15 


a 


16 


b 


17 


c 


18 


d 


19 


e 


20 


f 


21 


K 


22 


a 


23 


b 


24 


c 


25 


d 


26 


e 


27 


f 


28 


^ 


29 


a 


30 


b 


31 


c 



Circum. 



Epiph 



1st Lessons. 
Gen.]7De.lO 
Genesis 1 2 
: 4 
> 6 
' 8 



Isaiah 60 49 
Genesis 9 12 
13 14 
15 
17 



St. Paul's 
Conver 



16 

18 



19 20 
21 22 
23 24 
25 26 
27 28 
29 30 
31 32 
33 34 
35 37 
38 39 
40 41 
42 43 
44 45 
46 47 
Isaiah 50 51 
Gen. 48 49 60 
Exodus 



2nd Lessons. 



Roman 2 

Matth. 1 

. . 2 

. . 3 

. . 4 

Luke 3. 

(1-23) 5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

Acts 22. 

23) 23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 



(1 



Collos. 2 
Roman 1 
2 
3 
4 

John 2. 
(1-12) 5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 

1 Cor. 1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 

Acts 26. 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 



FEBRUARY. 


CHve me understanding according to thy word. 








1st Lessons. 


2nd Lessons. | 


1 


d 




Exodus 10 11 


Mark 1 


1 Cor. 13 


2 


e 


Purif. 


Lev. 12 Nu. 8 


.. 2 


.. 14 


3 


f 


, , 


Exodus 12 13 


. . 3 


.. 15 


4 


g 






. . 14 15 


4 


.. 16 


5 


a 






. . 16 17 


.. 5 


2 Cor. 1 


6 


b 






. . 18 19 


.. 6 


. . 2 


7 


c 






. . 20 21 


.. 7 


.. 3 


8 


d 






. . 22 23 


. . 8 


. . 4 


9 


e 






. . 24 32 


. . 9 


.. 5 


10 


f 






. . 33 34 


.. 10 


.. 6 


11 


S 






. . 35 38 


.. 11 


.. 7 


12 


a 






. . 39 40 


.. 12 


.. 8 


13 


h 






Numb. 11 12 


.. 13 


.. 9 


14 


c 






. . 13 14 


. . 14 


.. 10 


15 


d 






. . 15 17 


. . 15 


.. 11 


16 


e 






. . 18 21 


. . 16 


.. 12 


17 


f 






. . 22 23 


L. 1. 1-39 


.. 13 


18 


S 






. . 24 25 


1 39-80 


Gala. 1 


19 


a 






. . 26 30 


. . 2 


.. 2 


20 


h 






. . 31 32 


.. 3 


.. 3 


21 


c 






. . 33 36 


.. 4 


.. 4 


22 


d 






Deut. 1 2 


.. 5 


.. 5 


23 


e 






3 4 


.. 6 


.. 6 


24 


f St. Mat- 


lSam.10Is.52 


. . 7 


Ephes. 1 


25 


s' 


thias. 


5 6 


. . 8 


.. 2 


26 


a 


, , 


7 8 


. . 9 


. . 3 


27 


b 




9 10 


. . 10 


. . 4 


28 


c 




. . 11 12 


. . 11 


.. 5 


29 




• 


• 


. . 13 14 


Matth. 7 


Rom. 12 



MARCH 




Teach me, Lord, the way of thy statutes. 








1st Lessons. 


2nd Lessons. | 


1 


d 




Deut. 15 16 


Luke 12 


Ephes. 6 


2 


e 




. . 17 18 


. . 13 


Phillip. 1 


3 


f 




. . 19 20 


. . 14 


.. 2 


4 


g 




. . 21-24 


. . 15 


.. 3 


5 


a 




. . 25 26 


. . 16 


.. 4 


6 


b 




. . 27 28 


.. 17 


Collos. 1 


7 


c 




. . 29 30 


.. 18 


. . 2 


8 


d 




. . 31 32 


.. 19 


.. 3 


9 


e 




. . 33 34 


.. 20 


. . 4 


10 


f 




Josh. 1 2 


. . 21 


1 Thes. 1 


11 


g 




..3 4 


. . 22 


. . 2 


12 


a 




..5 6 


.. 23 


.. 3 


13 


h 




..7 8 


. . 24 


. . 4 


14 


c 




9 10 


John 1 


. . 5 


15 


d 




. . 11-23 


.. 2 


2 Thes. 1 


16 


e 




Judges 1 


. . 3 


. . 2 


17 


f 




..2 3 


4 


.. 3 


18 


g 




..4 5 


. . 5 


ITim. 1 


19 


a 




..6 7 


.. 6 


..2 3 


20 


b 




..8 9 


.. 7 


. . 4 


21 


c 




. . 10 11 


.• 8 


.. 6 


22 


d 




. . 12 13 


. . 9 


.. 6 


23 


e 




. . 14 15 


.. 10 


2 Tim. 1 


24 


f 




. . 16 17 


. . 11 


.. 2 


25 


g 


Annun. 


Isa.7. 1 Ch. 22 


.. 12 


.. 3 


26 


a 




. . 18 19 


. . 13 


. . 4 


27 


b 




. . 20 21 


.. 14 


Titus 1 


28 


c 




Ruth 1 2 


. . 15 


..2 3 


29 


d 




3 4 


. . 16 


Philem. 


30 


e 




1 Sam. 1 2 


.. 17 


Heb. 1 


31 


f 




3 4 


. . 18 


.. 2 



APRIL, 




Teach me good judgment and knowledge. 








1st Lessons. 


2nd Lessons, | 


1 


g 




iSam. 5 6 


John 19 


Heb. 3 


2 


a 




..7 8 


.. 20 


.. 4 


3 


b 




.. 9 10 


.. 21 


.. 5 


4 


c 




. . 11 12 


Acts 1 


.. 6 


5 


d 




• . 13 14 


.. 2 


.. 7 


6 


e 




.. 15 16 


.. 3 


.. 8 


7 


f 




. . 17 18 


.. 4 


. . 9 


8 


g 




. . 19 20 


.. 5 


. . 10 


9 


a 




. . 21 22 


.. 6 


.. 11 


10 


b 




.. 23 24 


.. 7 


.. 12 


11 


c 


• • 


. . 25 26 


.. 8 


.. 13 


12 


d 




. . 27 28 


.. 9 


James 1 


13 


e 




. . 29 SO 


.. 10 


.. 2 


14 


f 




2 Sam. 1 


.. 11 


.• 3 


15 


g 




..2 3 


.. 12 


.. 4 


16 


a 




..4 5 


.. 13 


.. 5 


17 


b 


• • 


..6 7 


.. 14 


1 Peter 1 


18 


c 




..8 9 


.. 15 


.. 2 


19 


d 


• • 


. . 10 11 


.. 16 


.. 3 


20 


e 




. . 12 13 


. . 17 


. . 4 


21 


f 




. . 14 15 


.. 18 


. . 5 


22 


g 




. . 16 17 


.. 19 


2 Peter 1 


23 


a 




. . 18 19 


.. 20 


.. 2 


24 


b 




. . 20 21 


.. 21 


. . 3 


25 


c 


St.MarkNah.l. Mal.ll 


. . 22 


iJohn 1 


26 


d 




. . 22 23 24 


.. 23 


.. 2 


27 


e 




1 Kings 1 


. . 24 


.. 3 


28 


f 




.. 2 3 


.. 25 


4 


29 


g 




4 5 


.. 26 


.. 5 


30 


a 




..6 7 


.. 27 


2 John 3 



MAY. 

Th<m art good anddoest good; teach me thy statutes. 



10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

31 



James 



1st Lessons. 
Phil & Jos. 3 4 

1 Kings 8 9 
10 11 
12 13 
14 15 
16 17 
18 19 
20 21 22 
1 
3 
5 
7 
9 



2 Kings 



2nd Lessons. 



Ezra 



10 11 
12 13 
14 15 
16 17 
18 19 
20 21 
22 23 
24 25 
1-3 
4 5 
6-8 
Nehemiah' 1 
.. 2-4 
6-7 
..8 9 
. . 10-13 
Esther 1 2 
3 4 



John 1 43 

Acts 28 
Matt 



Jude 
Rev 



1 

. . 2 
3 
4 
5 
.. 6 
. . 7 
. . 8 
.. 9 
. . 10 
.. 11 
.. 12 
. . 13 
. . 14 
. . 15| 
. . 16 
. . 17 
. . 18 
. . 19 
. . 20 
.. 21 
.. 22 
.. 23 
.. 24 
.. 25 
..26 
.. 27 
. . 28 
Mark 1 



4 

6 

8 9 

10 11 

12 13 

. . 14 

15 16 

.. 17 

. . 18 

.. 19 

. . 20 

.. 21 

.. 22 

Cor. 1 

.. 2 

. . 3 

. . 4 

.. 5 

. . 6 

.. 7 

.. 8 

. . 9 

.. 10 

. . 11 

. . 12 

. . 13 

. . 14 



JUNE. 




Crive me understanding to know thy testimonies. 








1st Lessons. 


2nd Lessons. 


1 


e 






Esther 5 6 


Mark 


2 


1 Cor. 15 


2 


f 






7 8 




3 


.. 16 


3 


g 






Job 1 




4 


2 Cor. 1 


4 


a 






..2 3 




5 


.. 2 


5 


b 






, 


4 5 




6 


.. 3 


6 


c 






, 


6 7 




7 


.. 4 


7 


d 






, 


8 9 




8 


. . 5 


8 


e 








10 11 




9 


. . 6 


9 


f 






. 


12 13 




10 


. . 7 


10 


g 






. 


14 15 




11 


..8 


11 


a 


St. Bar- 


Is. 61. Je. 33 


Acts 


14 


Acts 15 


12 


b 


nabas. 


Job 16 17 


Mark 


12 


1-26 9 


13 


c 


^ , 


. . 18 19 20 


, , 


13 


.. 10 


14 


d 


, , 


. . 21 22 


, , 


14 


.. 11 


15 


e 




..23; 24 25 


, ^ 


15 


.. 12 


16 


f 


, , 


. .26; 27 28 


, . 


16 


.. 13 


17 


g 


, , 


. . 29 30 


Luke 


1 


Gal. 1 


18 


a 




. . 31 32 


. 


2 


.. 2 


19 


b 


, , 


. . 33 34 


, , 


3 


. . 3 


20 


c 


Access. 


. . 35 36 


, , 


4 


.. 4 


21 


d 


, , 


. . 37 38 


, , 


5 


.. 5 


22 


e 


• • 


. . 39 40 


, , 


6 


.. 6 


23 


f 




. . 41 42 


, , 


7 


Ephes. 1 
Matt. 14 


24 


g 


St. John 


Malachi 3 4 


Matt. 


3 


25 


a 


Baptist. 


Prov. 1 2 


Luke 


8 


Ephes. 2 


26 


b 




3 4 


, , 


9 


.. 3 


27 


c 




5 6 




10 


. . 4 


28 


d 


. . 


7 8 




11 


.. 6 


29 


e 


St. Peter 


Is. 28. Ez. 34 


Acts 


3 


Acts 4 


30 


f 




Prov. 9 10 


Luke 


12 


Ephes. 6 





JULY. 




that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes ! 








1st Lessons. 


2nd Lessons. 


1 


g 


^ , 


Prov. 11 12 


Luke 13 


Phil. 1 


2 


a 






. . 13 14 


. . 14 


.. 2 


3 


h 






. . 15 16 


. . 15 


.. 3 


4 


c 






. . 17 18 


. . 16 


.. 4 


5 


d 






. . 19 20 


. . 17 


Collos. 1 


6 


e 






. . 21 22 


. . 18 


. . 2 


7 


f 






. . 23 24 


. . 19 


. . 3 


8 


S 






. . 25 26 


. . 20 


. . 4 


9 


a 






. . 27 28 


.. 21 


1 Thes. 1 


10 


b 






. . 29 31 


. . 22 


.. 2 


11 


c 






Eccles. 1 2 


.. 23 


. . 3 


12 


d 






. . 3 4 


. . 24 


. . 4 


13 


e 






5 6 


John 1 


. . 5 


14 


f 






. . 7 8 


. . 2 


2 Thes. 1 


15 


g 






9 10 


. . 3 


. . 2 


16 


a 






.. 11 12 


4 


. . 3 


17 


b 






Jeremi. 1 2 


.. 5 


1 Tim. 1 


18 


c 






3 4 


. . 6 


..2 3 


19 


d 






. . 5 Q 


. . 7 


. . 4 


20 


e 






.. 7 8 


. . 8 


.. 5 


21 


f 






9 10 


.. 9 


. . 6 


22 


g 






. . 11 12 


. . 10 


2 Tim. 1 


23 


a 






. . 13 14 


. . 11 


. . 2 


24 


b 






. . 15 16 


. . 12 


. . 3 


25 


c 


St.James 


Is .57. Dan. 12 


. . 13 


. . 4 


26 


d 


Ap. 


. . 17 18 


. , 14 


Titus 1 


27 


e 




. . 19 20 


. . 15 


. . 23 


28 


f 




. 


. . 21 22 


. . 16 


Philem. 


29 


g 




, 


. . 23 24 


. . 17 


Hebrew 


30 


a 




, 


. . 25 26 


. . 18 


. . 2 


31 


b 




• 


. . 27 28 


. . 19 


. . 3 



AUGUST. 


Iimll keep thy statutes, forsake me 7wt utterly. 








1st Lessons. 


2nd Lessons. 


1 


c 




Jeremi. 29 30 


John 20 


Heb. 4 


2 


d 




. . 31 32 


. . 21 


. . 5 


3 


e 




. . 33 34 


Acts 1 


. . 6 


4 


f 




. . 35 36 




. 2 


. . 7 


5 


g 




. . 37 38 




. 3 


. . 8 


6 


a 




. . 39 40 




4 


. . 9 


7 


b 




. . 41 42 




5 


. . 10 


8 


c 




. . 43 44 




6 


.. 11 


9 


d 




. .45 4647 




7 


. . 12 


10 


e 




. . 48 49 




. 8 


. . 13 


11 


f 




. . 50 51 




. 9 


James 1 


12 


S 




52 Lam. 1 




. 10 


.. 2 


13 


a 




. . 2 3 




. 11 


. . 3 


14 


b 




4 5 




. 12 


4 


15 


c 




Ezra 1 2 




. 13 


. . 5 


16 


d 




3 4 




. 14 


1 Peter 1 


17 


e 




. . 5 6 




. 15 


. . 2 


18 


f 




..7 8 




. 16 


.. 3 


19 


g 




9 10 




. 17 


. . 4 


28 


a 




. . 11 12 




. 18 


. . 5 


21 


b 




. . 13 14 




. 19 


2 Peter 1 


22 


c 


* • 


. . 15-18 




. 20 


.. 2 


23 


d 




. . 19 20 




. 21 


. . 3 


24 


e 


St. Bar. 


Zph. 3. Zc.3 




. 22 


IJohn 1 


25 


f 




. . 21 22 




. 23 


. . 2 


26 


g 




. . 23-25 




. 24 


. . 3 


27 


a 




. . 26-28 




. 25 


4 


28 


b 




. . 29 30 




. 26 


. . 5 


29 


c 




. . 31 32 




. 27 


2 John 3 


30 


d 




. . 33 34 




. 28! 


Jude 


31 

1 - — 


e 




. . 35 36 


Matt. 1 i 


Roman 1 

1 



SEPTEMBER. 




/ will meditate in thy precepts* 


- 








1st Lessons. 


2nd Lessons. j 


1 


/ 




Ezra 37 38 


Matth. 2 


Roman 2 


2 


g 




. . 39-43 


. . 3 


.. 3 


3 


a 




. . 44-46 


. . 4 


. . 4 


4 


b 




. . 47 48 


. . 5 


.. 5 


5 


c 




Daniel 1 2 


. . 6 


. . 6 


6 


d 




. . 3 4 


. . 7 


. . 7 


7 


e 




..5 6 


.. 8 


. . 8 


8 


f 




..7 8 


9 


. . 9 


9 


g 




. . 9 10 


.. 10 


. . 10 


10 


a 




. . 11 12 


. . 11 


. . 11 


11 


b 




Hosea 12 3 


. . 12 


. . 12 


12 


c 




. . 4 5 


. . 13 


. . 13 


13 


d 




. . 6 7 


.. 14 


. . 14 


14 


e 




..8 9 


. . 15 


.. 15 


15 


f 




. . 10 11 


.. 16 


.. 16 


16 


g 




. . 12 13 14 


. . 17 


1 Cor. 1 


17 


a 




Joel 1 


. . 18 


. . 2 


18 


b 




.. 2 3 


. . 19 


. . 3 


19 


c 




Amos 1 2 


. . 20 


. . 4 


20 


d 




. . 3 4 


.. 21 


. . 5 


21 


e 


St. Matt. 


Jos. 14. Ho. 6 


.. 22 


. . 6 


22 


f 




Amos 5 6 


. . 23 


. . 7 


23 


g 




.. 7 8 


. . 24 


8 


24 


a 




Obadiah 


. . 25 


. . 9 


25 


b 




Jo. 12 3 4 


. . 26 


. . 10 


26 


c 




Mic. 1 2 


. . 27 


. . 11 


27 


d 




..3 4 


. . 28 


.. 12 


28 


e 




..5 6 


Rev. 1 


. . 13 


29 


f 


St.Mic. 


Ge.32 Dan.lO 


. . 2 


. . 14 


30 

'L-: 


g 




Mic.7. Nah.l 


.. 3 


.. 15 



OCTOBER. 


Great peace have they which love thy law. 






1 1st Lessons. 


2nd Lessons. 


1 


a 




Nah. 2 3 


Rev. 4 5 


1 Cor. 16 


2 


b 




Hab. 1 2 


..6 7 


2 Cor. 1 


3 


c 




3 Zph. 1 


..89 


.. 2 


4 


d 




..2 3 


10 11 


. . 3 


5 


e 




Hag. 1 2 


12 13 


. . 4 


6 


f 




Zach. 1 2 


.. 14 


5 


7 


g 




3 4 


15 16 


. . 6 


8 


a 




5 6 


. . 17 


.. 7 


9 


b 




7 8 


. . 18 


.. 8 


10 


c 




9 10 


.. 19 


.. 9 


11 


d 




. . 11 12 


. . 20 


. . 10 


12 


e 




. . 13 14 


. . 21 


.. 11 


13 


f 




Malachi 1 2 


.. 22 


. . 12 


14 


g 




3 4 


L. 1 1-39 


.. 13 


15 


a 




Levit. 1 2 


LI 39-80 


Gala. 1 


16 


b 




.. 3 4 


. . 2 


.. 2 


17 


c 




..5 6 


.. 3 


.. 3 


18 


d 


St. Luke 


2Ki.l. Jobl 


.. 4 


.. 4 


19 


e 




Levit. 7 8 


. . 5 


. . 5 


20 


f 




9 10 


. . 6 


. . 6 


21 


g 




. . 11-16 


7 


Ephes. 1 


22 


a 




. . 17-19 


. . 8 


.. 2 


23 


b 




. . 20-22 


.. 9 


.. 3 


24 


c 




. . 23 24 


. . 10 


4 


25 


d 




. . 25 26 


. . 11 


5 


26 


e 




Num. 1-6 


. . 12 


. . 6 


27 


f 




7-10 


.. 13 


Phil. 1 


28 


g 


St. Vim. 


Job 24 25. 42 


.. 14 


. . 2 


29 


a 


& Jude. 


IChron 1-11 


. . 15 


.. 3 


30 


b 


, , 


. . 12-15 


. . 16 


4 


31 


c 


. . 


. . 16 17 


. . 17 


Collos. 1 





NOVEMBER. 




Establish thy word unto thy servant 








1st Lessons. 


2nd Lessons. | 


1 


d 


AllSaints 


Dt. 33. Is. 43 


Hebr. 


12 


R.19. 1-17 


2 


e 


Day. 


1 Chr. 18 19 


Luke 


18 


Collos. 2 


3 


f 






. . 20-22 




19 


. . 3 


4 


S 






. . 28 29 




20 


. . 4 


5 


a 






2 Chr. 1 2 




21 


1 Thes. 1 


6 


b 






3 4 




22 


. . 2 


7 


c 






..5 6 




23 


. . 3 


8 


d 






..7 8 




24 


.. 4 


9 


e 






9 10 


John 


1 


. . 5 


10 


f 






. . 11 12 




2 


2 Thes. 1 


11 


g 






. . 13 14 




3 


.. 2 


12 


a 






. . 15 16 




4 


. . 3 


13 


b 






. . 17 18 




5 


1 Tim. 1 


14 


c 






. . 19 20 




6 


..23 


15 


d 






. . 21 22 




7 


4 


16 


e 






. . 23 24 




8 


5 


17 


f 






. . 25 26 




9 


. . 6 


18 


g 






. . 27 28 




10 


2 Tim. 1 


19 


a 






. . 29 30 




11 


2 


20 


b 






. . 31 32 




12 


. . 3 


21 


c 






. . 33 34 




13 


4 


22 


d 






. . 35 36 




14 


Titus. 1 


23 


e 






Canticles. 




15 


..2 3 


24 


f 






Isaiah 12 3 




16 


Philem. 


25 


g 






4 5 




17 


Hebr. 1 


26 


a 






6 7 




18 


2 


27 


b 






8 9 




19 


3 


28 


c 






. . 30 11 




20 


4 


29 


d 






. . 12 13 




21 


5 


30 


e 


St. 'An- 
drew. 


Prov. 20 21 


Acts 


1 


. . 6 



1 

DECEMBER. 


Let my heart he sound in thy statutes. 








1st Lessons. 


2nd Lessons. | 


1 


/ 




Isaiah 14 15 


Acts 2 


Heb. 7 


2 


g 




. . 16 17 


. . 3 


.. 8 


3 


a 




. . 18 19 


4 


.. 9 


4 


b 




20 21 22 


5 


.. 10 


5 


c 


. . 


. . 23 24 


6 


.. 11 


6 


d 




. . 25 26 


7 1-30 


.. 12 


7 


e 


, , 


. . 27 28 


7 31-60 


. . 13 


8 


f 




. . 29 30 


.. 8 


James 1 


9 


S 




. . 31 32 


.. 9 


. . 2 


10 


a 




. . 33 34 


. . 10 


. . 3 


11 


b 




. . 35 36 


.. 11 


. . 4 


12 


c 




. . 37 38 


. . 12 


.. 5 


13 


d 




. . 39 40 


.. 13 


1 Peter 1 


14 


e 




. . 41 42 


. . 14 


. . 2 


15 


f 




. . 43 44 


.. 15 


.. 3 


16 


S 




. . 45 46 


.. 16 


. . 4 


17 


a 




. . 47 48 


. . 17 


. . 5 


18 


b 




. . 49 50 


. . 18 


2 Peter 1 


19 


c 




. . 51 52 


. . 19 


.. 2 


20 


d 




. . 53 54 


. . 20 


. . 3 


21 


e 


St.Tho. 


Prov. 23 24 


. . 21 


1 John 1 


22 


f 




. . 55 56 


,. 22 


.. 2 


23 


s 




. . 57 58 


.. 23 


. . 3 


24 


a 




. . 59 60 


.. 24 


. . 4 


25 


h 




Isaiah 9 7 


Lu.2 1-15 


Titus 3 


26 


c 


St. Step. 


Pro.28 Ecc.4 


Acts 6 


Acts 7 


27 


d 


St. John 


Eccles. 5 6 


Rev. 1 


Rev. 22 


28 


e 


Innocen. 


Jer.31 Zch.lO 


Acts 25 


1 John 5 


29 


f 


Day. 


Isaiah 61 62 


. . 26 


2 John 


30 


S 


. , 


. . 63 64 1 


. . 27 3 John 


31 


a 




. . 65 66 1 


. . 28 Jude 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

"Wherever I have a tent, there God shall have an altar."- 

HOWABD. 



" Greet the church that is in their house.*' — Rom. xvi. 5. 

" Ag-ain I say unto you, that if two of you shall ag-ree on 
earth as touching- any thing* that thej shall ask» it shall be 
done for them of my father which is in heaven. For where 
two or three are g-athered tog-ether in my name, there am I 
in the midst of them." — Matt, xviii. 19, 20. 

" Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wis- 
dom; teaching- and admonishing^ one another in psalms, 
and hymns, and spiritual song-s, singing with grace in your 
hearts lo the Lord." — Col. iii. 16. 

" I know him (Abraham) that he will command his chil- 
dren and his household after him, and they shall keep the 
way of the Lord." — Gen. xviii. 19. 

" The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the taberna- 
cles of the righteous." — Psalm, cxviii. 15. 

[The Publisher introduces an Essay on Family 
Worship, written as he supposes by one of the 
clergy of the " Church of Scotland." He knows 
not the author : He wishes he did, for he would 
like to take him by the hand and call him 
'' brother."] 

In Greenland when a stranger knocks at the 
door he asks, " Is God in this house ?" Arid if 
they answer, " Yes ;" he enters. Reader, this little 
messenger knocks at your door with the Green- 
land salutation. Is God in this IJouse ? Were 
you like Abraham, entertaining an angel unawares, 



24 THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

what would be the report he would take back to 
heaven ? Would he find you commanding your 
children and your household, and teaching them 
the way of the Lord ? Would he find an altar in 
your dwelling ? Do you worship God with your 
children ? Is there a church in your house ? 

Tf not, then God is not in your house. A 
prayerless family is a godless family. It is worse. 
It is a family on which Jehovah frowns. He will 
pour out his fury upon it some day. "O Lord, 
pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know 
thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy 
name."* A prayerless family and a heathen fami- 
ly are here accounted the same. 

I cannot mention all the reasons in favour of 
family worship ; but if you ponder them, the four 
following should suffice : — 

1. The godly householders mentioned in scrip- 
ture practised it. Would you desire to be like 
Abraham, the friend of God ? Wherever he pitch- 
ed his tent, he builded an altar, and called on the 
name of the Lord •,! and Jehovah declared con- 
cerning him, " I know Abraham, that he will com- 
mand his children and his household after him, 
and they will keep the way of the Lord."J Would 
you like to resemble Job, "the perfect and upright 
man, one that feared God and eschewed evil ?" He 
used to bring his children together, and rose early 
in the morning, and offered a sacrifice of as many 
victims as he had sons and daughters, teaching us 
how express and special our intercession for our 
families should be, and this he did " continually."] 



•Jer. X. 25. % Gen. xviii. 19. 

t Gen. xii. 7, 8 ; xiii. 4, 8, || Job i. 5, S. 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 25 

Would you resemble David the man after God's 
own heart ? At the close of a busy day, we find 
him going " home to bless his household."* Do 
you envy Cornelius, whose prayers were heard, 
and to whom the Lord sent a special messenger to 
teach him the way of salvation ? He w^as a " de- 
vout man, one who feared God with all his house^ 
and prayed to God always ;" and who was so anx- 
ious for the salvation of his family, that he got togeth- 
er his kinsmen and near friends, that they might be 
ready to hear the apostle when he arrived, and share 
with himself the benefit.^ Do you admire Aquila 
and Priscilla, Paul's " helpers in Christ Jesus," and 
who were so skilful in the scriptures, that they 
were able to teach a young minister the way of 
God more perfectly ? You will find that one rea- 
son for familiarity with scripture was, that they 
had " a church in their house."J In the Bible you 
find instances of family devotion in all ranks of 
life, from the king to the artizan, from David's 
palace to the tent of Aquila ; to teach you that 
whatever be your situation in life, you should still 
have a church in your house. I have sometimes 
seen family worship in great houses ; but I have 
felt that God was quite as near when I knelt with 
a praying family on the earthen floor of their cot- 
tage. I have known of family worship among the 
reapers in a barn. It used to be common in the 
fishing boats upon the friths and lakes of Scotland. 
I have heard of its being observed in the depths of 
a coal-pit. I scarcely know the situation in life 
in which a willing family might not contrive to 

♦ 1 Chron. xvi. 43. J Acts, xviii. 26; Rom. xvi. 6. 

t Acts X. 2, 24, 31, 33. 



26 THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

pray together. If you live in a scoffing ungodly 
neighbourhood, so much the better. Abraham 
built his altar whilst heathen Canaanites looked on. 
He lifted up a testimony for God, and God hon* 
oured him — so that Abimelech, his neighbour, was 
constrained to say, " God is with thee in all that 
thou doest."* 

2. Wherever religion revives, family worship 
abounds. When the Spirit is poured out upon the 
house of David, " the land shall mourn, every 
family apart-''^ I can remember no instance of a 
great revival, of which this was not an attendant 
sign. Listen to the account which Mr. Baxter 
gives of Kidderminster during his ministry. " On 
the Lord's day there was no disorder to be seen 
in the streets, but you might hear a hundred fami- 
lies singing psalms and repeating sermons, as you 
passed through the streets. When I came thither 
first, there was about one family in a street that 
worshipped God and called on his name, and when 
I came away, there were some streets, where there 
was not above one family in the side of a street 
that did not so ; and that did not by professing se- 
rious godliness give us some hopes of their sin- 
cerity ; and those families which were the worst, 
being inns, and ale-houses, usually some persons 
in each did seem to be religious. Some of the poor 
men did competently understand the body of di- 
vinity, and were able to judge in difficult contro- 
versies. Some of them were so able in prayer, 
that very few ministers did match them in order, 
and fulness, and apt expressions, and holy oratory 
with fervency. Abundance of them were able to 

•Gen. xxi. 22. t Zech. x. 12. 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE, 27 

pray very laudably with their families or with 
others. The temper of their minds and the inno- 
cency of their lives was much more laudable than 
their parts." When the Spirit is poured upon us, 
our cities will all present a similar aspect. 

3, It would make your home much happier if 
you had a church in your house. It has been said 
with much truth, " Family prayer is the oil which 
removes friction and causes all the complicated 
wheels of the family to move smoothly and noise- 
lessly." It is one way, and the very best, for 
bringing all the members of a family together, and 
for promoting that harmony of feeling so essen- 
tial to domestic enjoyment. Some families are 
held together by hardly any bond, except that 
they lodge under the same roof, and assemble 
round the same board. But when they meet, it is 
not to fulfil one another's joy. They are selfish 
and sullen ; cross words, peevish answers, and 
angry recriminations make up all their intercourse. 
The customary meal is dispatched in a gloomy si- 
lence, orembittered by fretful words. I have known 
families so little at home with one another, that it 
was quite a relief when any casual visitor dropped 
in to break the irksomeness, of their own society. 
I have seen brothers and sisters so ill-assorted in 
the families in which God had planted them to- 
gether, that they had no subject of common in- 
terest and no mutual love nor confidence. They 
could converse and be happy with strangers, but 
not with one another. And I have seen this in 
families where there was a form of family wor- 
ship — a pretence, a semblance of prayer — but never 
where there was the reality. If yours be such a 
family, before peace and affection visit it, you must 



28 THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

say, " Come and let us seek the Lord." If you 
would see the dawn of blander days on that 
clouded and lowering circle, you must cry, " Lord 
lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us, 
and so we shall be glad." If you could only per- 
suade them to take into their hands the volume 
that speaks good will to man, and as they sit 
together to read by turns its messages of kindness ; 
and then as they bowed before the mercy-seat, if 
in their common name, you said, Our Father^ and 
confessed their common sins, returned thanks for 
any mercies which the day had brought, and asked 
such blessings as all need, this process could not 
be long persisted in, till you would see its soften- 
ing and harmonizing influence. The dew of Her- 
mon w^ould begin to come down, and you would 
exclaim as you saw the difference, " Behold how 
good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell 
together in unity."* 

But perhaps your family dwells in unity — but it 
is not a holy unity. It is not sanctified by the 
word of God and by prayer. You are happy in 
one another. You are never at a loss for the ma- 
terials of a cheerful intercourse. But amidst all the 
sprightliness, and cordiality, and kind feeling which 
encompass your fire-side, one ingredient of glad- 
ness is wanting. God is forgotten. In the morn- 
ing, you meet and give one another a joyous greet- 
ing, and the morning meal dispatched rush away to 
the day's engagements without a word of acknow- 
ledgment to that God whose sleepless eye guarded 
your midnight pillow — without one word of pray- 
er to bespeak his upholding and guidance in this 

* Psalm, cxxxiii. 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 29 

day's untrodden path. And when the evening 
hour of intercourse is over, and you have discuss- 
ed the pleasant or prosperous incidents of the day, 
you hie away, cheerful but unthankful, to a pray- 
erless slumber, perhaps, to awake in the grasp of 
the King of Terrors, and find that the Lord is not 
with you. Your family is united — but it is a short- 
lived union. Your family-love, God is not in it, 
and therefore heaven does not follow after it. 
How it would give tone and intensity to the affec- 
tion of your smiling circle, if you could be brought 
to love one another in the Lord ! With what new 
eyes you would learn to look upon yourselves, if 
you came to regard one another as brethren for 
eternity ! And how it would heighten bliss, and 
take the sharpness out of sorrow, if " For ever with 
the Lord" were the thought which joy and grief 
most readily suggested ! Were it manifest of all 
the members of a family that God is their Father, 
Christ their elder Brother, and the Holy Spirit 
their Comforter, such a family would possess a 
joy which the removal of no member could take 
away. That joy has often come into households 
through the channel of domestic devotion. For, 
4. Family worship is an ordinance which God 
has often blessed to the saving of souls. In houses 
where it is conducted with life and feeling, it has 
often proved a converting ordinance. A few years 
ago, an English gentleman visited America, and 
spent some days with a pious friend. He was a 
man of talent and accomplishments, but an infidel. 
Four years afterwards, he returned to the same 
house, a Christian. They wondered at the change, 
but little suspected when and where it had origi- 
nated. He told them that when he was present 



so THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

at their family worship, on the first evening of his 
former visit, and when after the chapter was read, 
they all knelt down to pray — the recollection of 
such scenes in his father's house long years ago, 
rushed in on his memory, so that he did not hear 
a single word. But the occurrence made him 
think^ and his thoughtfulness ended in his leaving 
the howling wilderness of infidelity, and finding a 
quiet rest in the salvation wrought out by Jesus 
Christ. In his Fireside^ Mr. Abbot tells us of a 
gay young lady who paid a visit of a week in the 
family of a minister, an eminently holy man. His 
fervent intercessions for his children and the other 
inmates of his dwelling, went to this thoughtless 
heart : they were the Spirit's arrow, and upon that 
family altar, his visitor was enabled to present her- 
self a living sacrifice to God. It is with the church 
in the house as with the church in the village. 
The wayfarer may get a word in passing, which 
he never can forget. The stranger that turns aside 
to tarry for a night may hear at your family wor- 
ship the word that will save his soul. Some years 
ago, an Irish wanderer, his wife, and his sister, 
asked a night's shelter in the cabin of a pious 
school-master. With the characteristic hospitality 
of his nation, the schoolmaster made them wel- 
come. It was his hour for evening worship, and 
when the strangers were seated, he began by read- 
ing slowly and solemnly, the second chapter of 
the Epistle to the Ephesians. The young man sat 
astonished. The expressions, " Dead in trespasses 
and sins," " Children of wrath," " Walking after 
the course of this world," were new to him. He 
sought an explanation. He was told that this is 
God's account of the state of man by nature. He 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 31 

felt that it was exactly his own state. " In this 
way I have walked from my childhood. In the 
service of the god of this world we have come to 
your house." He was on the way to a fair, where 
he intended to pass a quantity of counterfeit mo- 
ney. But God's word had found him out. He 
produced his store of coin, and begged his host to 
cast it into the fire ; and asked anxiously if he 
could not obtain the Word of God for himself. 
His request was complied with, and next morning, 
with the new treasure, the party who had now no 
errand to the fair, returned to their own home. 
Perhaps, by this time the pious school-master has 
met his guest within the gates of the city, outside 
of which are thieves and whatsoever maketh a lie. 
But I cannot enumerate all the conversions which 
have occurred at the Church in the House. Many 
servants have been awakened there. Children 
have often heard there truths, which when the 
Spirit brought them to remembrance in after days ; 
perhaps, in days of profligacy, and when far from 
their father's house — have sent home the prodigal. 
It is not only Zion's solemn assemblies, but of Ja- 
cob's humble dwellings— the little fireside sanctu- 
aries — " that the Lord shall count when he writeth 
up the people, 'This man was born there.'" In 
your house there have been, perhaps, several im- 
mortal spirits born into the world. Have there 
been any born again ? 

Prayerless parents! Your irreligion may prove 
your children's damnation. They might have 
been within the fold of the Saviour by this time, 
had not you hindered them when entering in. That 
time when God visited your family with a heavy- 
stroke, they were thoughtful for a season, but 



32 THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

there was no Church in your house to give a hea- 
venly direction to that thoughtfulness, and it soon 
died away. That evening when they came home 
from the Sabbath School so serious, if you had 
been a pious father or mother, you would have 
taken your boy aside, and spoken tenderly to him, 
and asked what his teacher had been telling him ; 
and you would have prayed with him, and tried to 
deepen the impression. But your children came 
in from the church or school, and found no church 
in their father's house. Their hearts were softeur 
ed, but your worldliness soon hardened them. The 
seed of the kingdom was just springing in their 
souls, and by this time might have been a rich har- 
vest of salvation ; but in the atmosphere of your 
ungodly house, the tender blade withered instant- 
ly. Your idle talk, your frivolity, your Sunday 
visitors, your prayerless evening, ruined all. Your 
children were coming to Christ, and you suffered 
them not. And you will not need to hinder them 
long. The carnal mind is enmity against God ; 
but no enmity so deep as theirs who were almost 
reconciled and then drew back. You drove your 
children back. You hardened them. They may 
never more be moved. They may grow up as 
prayerless and ungodly as yourself. If God should 
change yourself, they may soon be too hard for 
your own tears and entreaties. If you die as you 
are, their evil works will follow you to the world 
of woe, and pour new ingredients into your own 
cup of wrath. Oh ! think of these things. A 
prayerless house is not only a cheerless one, but 
it is a guilty one ; for where God is not, there 
Satan is. 
But I know not why I should multiply words to 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 33 

prove a duty which nature teaches. The poor 
pagan with his household gods and family altar 
will rise in the judgment against some of this gen- 
eration and will condemn them. Instead, there- 
fore, of saying more on the obligation and advan- 
tages of this most reasonable service, I shall en- 
deavour to give some plain directions to those into 
whose hearts the Lord has put the desire to begin 
it. 

1. Can you sing? or is there any one in the 
house who can ? You will find it enliven the ser- 
vice wonderfully if you can make "a joyful noise 
unto the Lord." The psalm or hymn is a part of 
the service which the youngest enjoy, and in which 
they will gladly take a share. 

2. There is the reading of the Word of God. 
You may go straight through, or you may select 
a course of subjects. For instance, you might 
read the parables as one series, and the miracles 
of Christ as another. You might select the bio- 
graphical portions, and read the lives of Adam, 
Noah, Abraham, Peter, Paul, &c. ; or you might 
read the Epistles in connection with the history of 
the churches, or individuals to whom they are ad- 
dressed. Thus you might compare Ephesians 
with Acts xviii — xx. and with Rev. ii. 1 — 8 ; or 
Thessalonians with Acts xvii. 1 — 13; and you 
might compare the Psalms with the period in Da- 
vid's history when each was written, and the Pro- 
phecies with those passages which record their 
fulfilment — a comparison, which a Bible, with 
good marginal references, will enable you to make. 
Or you may select passages appropriate to particu- 
lar seasons. On the morning of a Lord's day, you 
might read Ps. xlviii, Ixiii, Ixxxiv, xcii, cxviii ; John 

6 



S4 THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

XX ; Rev. i. &c. On a sacramental Sabbath, Psal. 
xxii, xlv; Isa. liii; Matt, xxvi; John vi, &c. It 
might help to keep attention awake, if each read a 
verse in rotation. At other times there might be 
more solemnity if the same person read the whole 
continuously. It would make it more impressive 
and more memorable, if you occasionally asked a 
question, or made a few remarks on the passage 
read. For instance, you read the nineteenth of 
Luke, and this is your commentary as you go along. 

1. "And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 

2. " And behold there was a man named Zaccheua, 
which was the chief among the publicans, (or tax-gather- 
ers) and he was rich. 

3. " And he sought to see Jesus, who he was : and could 
Dot for the press, because he was little of stature." 

This was the last time that Jesus passed through 
Jericho. He had often passed quietly through it 
before: but now his time was fully come, and he 
could not be hid. The road was full of passen- 
gers at this season at any rate ; for it was passover 
time, and they were all going up to Jerusalem. 
Besides, the sensation in Jericho was increased by 
the miracle which Jesus had just wrought on the 
blind beggar, and which we read in the last chap- 
ter yesterday. The crowd was so great that Zac- 
cheus could get no opening to push through, and 
he was so little that he could not see over other 
people's shoulders. 

4. " And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamora 
tree to see him : for he was to pass that way. 

5. " And when Jesus came to the place he looked up, 
and saw him, and said unto him, Zaccheus, make haste, 
and come down ; for to-day I must abide at thy house." 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 35 

How surprised he must have been ! Up in the 
leafy sycamore, he never expected to be noticed. 
But see ! Jesus stands still and looks at him as if 
he were about to speak. Perhaps, Zaccheus ex- 
pected to get a rebuke before the multitude for his 
villanies, when Jesus, in his own gentle way, just 
says, " Zaccheus, make haste, and come down ; for 
to-day I must abide at thy house." Grace went 
with the word. 

6. " And he made haste, and came down, and received 
him joyfully. 

7. " And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying. 
That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner,** 

There were many who felt that they had a bet- 
ter right to this distinction than the mean grasping 
tax-gatherer. Many of them felt as if they were 
not SINNERS. It lowered their opinion of Christ, 
that he would condescend to become the guest of 
such a man. They little knew the reason. 

8. " And Zaccheus stood, and said unto the Lord, be- 
hold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor: and if 
I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, 
I restore him fourfold." 

How glad he must have been ! A happy heart 
devises liberal things — and so happy had this visit 
made him, that his greedy soul had no longer love 
for money. He stood up like one on whom a 
Rudden thought had come, or who wished to give 
solemnity to what he said, and declared that he 
would make it all up to those whom he had 
wronged, and give half his substance to the poor. 
This was the effect of receiving Jesus. Where the 
love of Christ enters, the love of the world goes 



36 THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

out. What would the murmurers think when 
they saw this change upon the " sinner." 

9. " And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation 
come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of 
Abraham." 

It was his "joyful receiving" of Jesus which 
made him a son of Abraham. It made him more. 
It made him one of the sons of God.* Have we 
received Christ? Has his voice ever made us 
joyful? Have we ever parted with "goods," 
or any thing else from gratitude to Him ? Now 
let us remember the next verse, for it is one of 
Christ own faithful sayings. 

10. " For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save 
that which was lost." 

This is one way. Another and perhaps better 
way, is to make the members of the family supply 
the commentary themselves. This evening, before 
it is so late that you are all sleepy, you sit round 
the table each with his Bible open before him ; and 
the passage selected is the forty-fifth of Isaiah. 

1. "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, 
whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before 
him ; and I will lose the loins of kings, to open before him 
the two-leaved gates ; and the gates shall not be shut." 

Father, The prophet has been foretelling the 
fall of Babylon, and here he names its conqueror. 
Mary, what is his name ? 

Mary. Cyrus. 

Father, Does any one know how long after 

• John, i. 12. 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 37 

this it was before Cyrus made his appearance ?— 
Can no one tell ! George, your Bible has got the 
date on its margin. Can you tell when Isaiah ut- 
tered this prophecy ? 

George, About 712 years before Christ. 

Father, Now if you will look to the begin- 
ning of Ezra, you will see the first year of Cyrus 
set down there. 

George, Before Christ 536. 

Father, Then how long before had the Lord 
called Cyrus by his name ? 

George, Nearly 200 years. 

Father, It is not very long since John and 
Henry finished the life of Cyrus. Do you re- 
member any facts which illustrate this prophecy ? 

Henry, The Lord says, " I have h olden 
his right hand to subdue nations before him." 
Cyrus subdued the Lydians with their rich king 
Croesus, the Phrygians, the Phoenicians, and many 
more, as well as the Babylonians. 

John, Yes ; and when he took Babylon, " the 
gates were not shut." For the people were all 
drinking and diverting themselves, when he dried 
up the river *, and had forgot to shut the gates at the 
end of the streets which open into the river — so 
that Cyrus had nothing to do but march down 
the dry channel, and then climb up the banks into 
the city. 

Father, Very true — but do you remember 
nothing more about " opening the two-leaved 
gates." 

Henry, Oh, yes! When the king of Baby^lon 
heard the uproar in the city, he sent to find out 
what was the matter, and when they were opening 



33 THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

the palace gates to let out the king's messenger, 
the Persians rushed in and killed the king. 

Try to bring out some lesson that may be need- 
ed that very day. You read at morning worship 
that Terse, 1 Cor. x. 31. 

" Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye 
do, do all to the glory of God." 

Father, What does that mean ? 

John, That everything, however little, we are 
to do it so as to please God. 

Father. ^ Quite so. It means that you, children 
when learning your lessons, or at play — that Sa- 
rah down stairs, and your father in his counting 
room, should all remember that we have a Father 
in heaven, and should do every thing, the little 
things and the great things, in the way that pleases 
Him. 

Mother, This was the principle on which 
Oberlin acted. Here is a passage which I 
marked, when I read his life not long ago, 

" The views of religion which Oberlin entertained, made 
him bring the greatest principles to the minutest operation. 
He would take a stone out of the road, if it were likety to 
incommode a traveller, on the principle of love to his neigh- 
bour : and in this manner he argued respecting the duties in 
which mankind are engaged. Take, for instance, a direc- 
tion to his people, on planting trees. This, with other men, 
would be an atfair of convenience ; with him, in his cir- 
cumstances, it was a religious duty. He thus addressed 
his parishioners. 

November ISih, 1803, 
*'Dear Friends, 

" Satan, the enemy of mankind, rejoices when we de- 
molish and destroy. * Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the contra- 
ry, rejoices when v^^e labour for the public good. You all 
deaire to be saved by him, and hope to become partakers of 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 39 

his glory. Please Him, then by every possible means, du- 
ring the remainder of the time you may have to live in this 
world* He is pleased, v^^hen, from the principle of love, 
you plant trees for the public benefit. Now is the season. 
Be willing then to plant them. Plant them also in the best 
possible manner. Remember you do it to please him. Put 
all your roads into good condition ; ornament them ; employ 
some of your trees for this purpose, and attend to their 
growth." 

Father. Well, let us do like Oberlin. Let us 
be kind, and obliging, and useful ; and remeniber 
that nothing is so little, but that we may do it to 
the glory of God. 

The passage which you mean to read with your 
family, read it carefully over beforehand •, and con- 
sider what are its most striking points and most 
useful lessons ; and a little practice will make you 
a good family expositor. 

3. The last and most important part of family 
worship is united prayer. By prayer, I mean the 
outpouring of an earnest heart in the name of Je- 
sus. It is not prayer when you merely read or re- 
peat a heartless form. You do not ask a blessing 
on your daily bread, when you merely mutter 
over it a charm — a {ew inarticulate words for cus- 
tom's sake. Nor do you pray when you bend the 
knee, and read or say a few petitions which you 
do not feel, and which you forget as soon as you 
have uttered. Tt is prayer, when you ask from God 
blessings which you are really anxious to obtain, 
and when, in a conviction of your own unworthi- 
ness, you ask them for the sake of Him who in- 
deed is worthy, the well-beloved Son of God. It 
is prayer, when you ask so earnestly that you re- 
member afterwards what you sought, and so be- 
licvingly, that looking up you expect an answer. 



40 THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

Be earnest. Better no prayer, than give your fam- 
ily a distaste at prayer, by your dulness and for- 
mality. Be honest. Deal truly with the God of 
Truth. Do not mock the Searcher of hearts. — 
Give yourself to the Lord — then set up his wor- 
ship. Go to the Lord Jesus yourself, and then 
seek to bring your children with you. 

In family prayer you may be more minute and 
specific then it is possible to be in more public 
services. If you have a deep reverence of God 
upon your mind, there is no fear that particularity 
will degenerate into unholy familarity. If any of 
your friends are in affliction, pray for them. If 
your children are at school, or at a sabbath class, 
pray for their teacher. Pray for your brethren in 
church-fellowship, that the beauty of the Lord 
may be upon them, and that they may dwell in 
love. Pray for the office-bearers of your church — 
pray for your minister. Endeavour to interest 
your family in the extension of the Redeemer's 
kingdom, and pray for faithful ministers and 
missionaries, especially in those places m which 
you feel most interested. Every morning commit 
your way to God. Bespeak his presence in 
all its duties and temptations — his blessing on 
your intercourse; and especially on any means 
of grace, which you hope that day to en- 
joy. Every night commend yourself to his 
watchful keeping, that you may sleep and wake 
with Him. Pray over the scriptures you have read. 
And abound in thanksgiving. Cultivate a cheer- 
ful and grateful spirit ; think if there be any mer- 
cies you have lately received, and acknowledge 
them. Has any one arrived from a journey safe and 
well } Is a sick member of the family restored ? 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 41 

Have you heard good news from the far country, 
tidings from the absent brother ? Were you at 
church or at the prayer-meeting this evening ? And 
did you find it refreshing ? Have you read in 
your Missionary Magazine^ the conversion of a 
heathen or a Jew ? Have you heard that God is 
pouring out His Spirit on some corner of our own 
country ? Have you got an answer to a former 
prayer ? Praise the Lord, for it is pleasant 

It will depend on the age of your family and the 
amount of your leisure, how long the service 
should be. Some hurry it over in a way which 
shows that they have no heart in it themselves. 
Others prolong it so, that every one else is wea- 
ried. Ten minutes of a formal service will look 
longer than twice the time when the whole soul is 
in it. 

Be consistent. '' Behave yourself wisely in a 
perfect way. Walk within your house w^ith a per- 
fect heart."* If you be devout in prayer, and un- 
holy in practice; if you be heavenly-minded at 
the hour of worship, and frivolous, or proud, or 
passionate all the day ; if you teach your children 
in the morning. "Be not conformed to this 
world," and if half the day's lessons be designed 
to conform them to the world as nearly as possi- 
ble ; if you pray for your household that you may 
be all meek, and gentle, and kindly-affectioned one 
to another, and then treat your servants as haugh- 
tily as if they were your slaves or your enemies ; 
your contradictory prayers and practices will be a 
terrible stumbling-block in their way to the king- 
dom. God may convert them ; but your conduct 

* Psalm, ci. 2. 



42 THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

will make that miracle of grace more miraculous 
still. 

Reader, I do not know whether by this time you 
are almost persuaded, or have actually determined 
to begin. When I think what you are losing who 
are strangers to this delightful exercise, and when 
1 farther think on the blessed results which might 
flow from your now beginning it, I am loth to 
leave off— though it is time we were done. Do 
you still hesitate } What is your excuse ? 

" I never saw the advantages you describe. It 
has always been a dull service wherever f have 
seen it.'' But you need not make it dull. Throw 
your whole heart and soul into it, and it will be 
lively enough. It is often dull because it is a mere 
form. Do you make it a living service, and it 
will not be dull. It is often dull, because it is te- 
dious. Do not spin it out. Better one paragraph 
of scripture, feelingly and intelligently read, than 
a whole chapter listlessly drawled over. Better a 
prayer no longer than the publican's,* if the whole 
soul be in it, than a weary form without feeling. 
Be fervent, and you will not be dull. Family 
prayer has often been so conducted, that instead 
of wearying at it, children felt it a punishment to 
be excluded. I was once told of a cottage patri- 
arch who was born in those days, when Scotland 
had a church in almost every house. There was 
one in his father's dwelling, and when he pitched 
a tent for himself, he builded an altar. Round 
that altar a goodly number of olive plants grew 
up, but one by one they were either planted out in 
families of their own, or God took them, till he 

• Luke, xviii, 13, 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 43 

and his old partner found themselves, just as at 
their first outset in life, alone. But their family 
worship continued as of old. At last his fellow- 
traveller left him. Still he carried on the worship 
by himself So sweet was the memory of it in his 
father's house, and so pleasant had he found it in 
his own, that he could not give it up. But as he 
sat in his silent habitation, morning and evening, 
his quivering voice was overheard singing the old 
psalm-tune, reading aloud the chapter, and praying 
as if others still worshipped by his side. He had 
not found it dull. 

" I have no time." If you really value time, 
family prayer is good husbandry of time. What 
you do with God's blessing is much better and 
faster done than what you do without it, and is not 
so likely to need doing over again. You will find 
it here as Sir Matthew Hale found it with the Sab- 
bath. What you take from God, he can easily 
take from you. If other things were equal, I 
should expect far more to be accomplished in a 
day, by the man whose spirit bad been tranquil- 
ized, his resolution fortified, and his activity quick- 
ened by morning prayer, than from the man who 
impiously hurried out to do it all without asking 
God's presence. Philip Henry, who was an excel- 
lent economist of time, when early out of bed to 
hasten the preparations for a day's travel : as he 
called his children together, used to say to them, 
^^ Prayer and provender hinder no man's journey." 
Try his homely maxim and you will find it true. 

^' Our family is so small." How many are there 
of you? Are there two? Then, ^^Wheresoever 
/z^o," (see Matt, xviii. 19, 20.) John Howard and 
his valet, as they journeyed from place to place, 



44 THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

used to have family worship by themselves, if they 
could get no one else to join them. ^' Wherever I 
have a tent," he would say, •' there God shall have 
an altar." If there be two of you — though it 
should be but a Ruth and a Naomi, a mother and 
her daughter, your family is large enough to wor- 
ship God, and to get the blessing of those who 
worship him. 

''My family is so large. There are so many 
servants, and often so many visitors, that I have 
not courage to begin." If your family be large, 
the obligation to begin is all the greater. Many 
suffer by your neglect. And if your congregation 
be numerous, the likelihood that some good will 
be done is the greater; for there are more to share 
the benefit. And why want courage } Should not 
the very fact that you are acknowledging God en- 
courage you ? '' Them that honour me, I will 
honour." Begin it believingly, and in the very 
attempt courage will come. 

" But I have no gift of prayer. I cannot lead the 
devotions of my family." Prayer is the gift of the 
Holy Spirit.* Before you begin ask God to give 
you his Spirit to teach you.| I have heard of 
stammering men who were eloquent in prayer, for 
tlie Spirit of God spake by them. When you pray, 
Remember that God is listening. You have called 
on Him to hearken. You have asked him to lend 
you an attentive ear, for you are about to ask mer- 
cies for yourself and your dearest friends. Re- 
member that God is listening, and you will forget 
that men are hearkening. And they in their turn, 
when they find that you are really praying, will 

• Romans, viii. 26. t Luke, xi. 13. 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 45 

have no time to criticise — for they will be con- 
strained to join you in your prayer. 

But, perhaps, I have not after all touched your 
real objection. You refuse to pray in your fami- 
ly, because you know that you do not pray in 
your closet. You evade it, because you know 
that your life is such that family worship would, 
ill your case, be a mockery, and would only add 
hypocrisy to sin. Or you are under the influence 
of that false shame which will be felt to be the 
most shameful of all things, when the now affront- 
ed Son of God comes again in his glory.* Is it 
so ? And are you about to throw away this tract 
with your purpose unchanged ? Then I can only 
say that the day is coming, when you will wish 
that you never had any brethen — (Luke, xvi. 27.) 
that the Lord had written you childless — that you 
bad been a poor outcast with no roof to shelter 
you, rather than the ungodly husband and father, 
and master, which you this day are — for then you 
had been free from blood-guiltiness in the case of 
others' souls. 

The considerations by which I have tried to urge 
you to a discharge of this duty are, the obligations 
which you owe to yourselves, to your children, 
and to God : to yourselves, who will never have 
the same inward happiness, nor the same satisfac- 
tion in your family circle, till once the voice of re- 
joicing, the melody and praise, which are heard in 
the tabernacles o[ the righteous, be heard in your 
own : to your children, who will rise up and call 
you blessed, if you guide their feet into the way of 
peace : to God, who offers to become the never- 

• Mark, viiii. 38. 



46 THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

slumbering keeper of you and yours, and to up- 
hold your going out and coming in from this time 
forth for ever. These are the considerations I 
have used. Some of you may think that 1 would 
have succeeded better, if I had dwelt on the beau- 
tiful and picturesque of family religion ; if 1 had 
carried you back to the time when the Glory of 
domestic piety had her habitation in our land, when 
Tillages and towns presented a look of Sabbath 
quietness at the hour of morning prayer, and when 
night succeeding night, repeated the praises of God 
from the lonely upland cottage to the hamlet on 
the plain. I might have done this ; and 1 might 
have planted you amidst the worshipping house- 
hold, and invited you to listen to the cordial music 
of their psalm^ and the pathos and fervour of their 
prayer. But one thing hinders me. J know that 
all that is beautiful and picturesque in domestic 
devotion, has not only been witnessed but described 
by those whom its loveliness could never win 
to an imitation. It is one thing for a heart full of 
sensibility to be touched by contemplating the 
beauty and the joys of true devotion, and quite 
another thing for a renewed heart to feel these joys. 
Hundreds have been melted by the matchless poem, 
in which the bard of Scotland describes the wor- 
ship of a cottage patriarch ; but the Cottar'^s Sa- 
titrday JSlght never taught any man to pray. It is 
told of Sir Walter Scott, that sometimes of an even- 
ing he took his guests to an arbour on his lawn, 
and let them hear the distant music of a sacred 
tune. It came from the cottage of one of his de- 
pendants, and fell touchingly on the ear of the 
great minstrel himself — but it only touched the ear» 
He and his visitors went back to the drawing-room 



THE CHURCH IK THE HOUSE. 47 

at Abbotsford, but it was not to raise with their 
better skill an evening hymn of thanksgiving to 
the God of all their mercies. The distant cadence 
of a covenanting melody was somewhat roimantic, 
but nearer hand it would have blended ill with the 
dance and the tabret. They all agreed that the 
voice of psalms from a cottage was picturesque— 
but that in the mansion, the harp and the viol would 
be more appropriate.* If higher considerations 
have no weight, I am sure that a litde picture-work 
will not prevail upon you. 

Fathers and brethren^ some of you are the head* 
of happy families to-day. All that I ask is, thai 
you would make them happier still. Happy, not 
only in your love, but in ike love of God the Sa- 
viour, happy for time and through eternity. The 
happiest family will not be always so. The most 
smiling circie will be in tears some day. All that 

* These merry halls were soon after silent, amd " the 
voice of harpers, and mmsicians, and of pipers" has never 
since been heard in them. The " psalm- singing" servant 
was a brother born for adversity, and on the breaking up 
of the establishment, refused to leave his master, and rather 
than leave him offered to serve for nothing. In his new 
post of ploughman, it affected the poor baronet to hear 
" Old Peep" whistling to his team, as he tanod the fresh 
turned furrows. It was a change to both; but it would 
seem that the one possessed a source of perennial joy which 
outward calamities could not dry up nor trouble. And af- 
ter all, in an angel's eye, which is the greater genius — the 
sublimer spirit — the poet on his Pegasus, or the peasant, 
who in the hour of calamity can take the wings of a dove, 
and fly away and be at rest ? Wh® that has read the latter 
days of Robert Burns, does not wish that he had been his 
own Cottar? He sometimes wished it himself. The son 
of Bosor is not the only man whom the sight of Jacob's 
goodly tents has made to sigh, " Let me die the death of 
the righteous." 



48 THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

I ask is, that you would secure for yourselves and 
your children, a friend in that blessed Redeemer, 
who will wipe all tears from all faces. Your 
families may soon be scattered, and familiar voices 
may cease to echo within your walls. They may 
go each to his own, and some of them may go far 
away. O see to it, that the God of Bethel goes 
with them, that they set up an altar even on a dis- 
tant shore, and sing the Lord's song in that foreign 
land. They may be taken from this earth alto- 
gether, and leave you alone. O see to it, that as 
one after another goes, it may be to their Father^'s 
house above, and to sing with heavenly voices, 
and to a heavenly harp, the song which they first 
learned from you, and with you often sang togeth- 
er here — the song of Moses and the Lamb. And 
if you be taken, and some of them be left, see to it 
that you leave them the thankful assurance that 
you are gone to their Father, and your Father, 
their God, and your God. And in the meanwhile, 
let your united worship be so frequent and so fer- 
vent, that when you are taken from their head, the 
one whose sad office it is to supply your place, 
as priest of that household, shall not be able 
to select a chapter or a Psalm, with which your 
living image and voice are not associated, and in 
which you, though dead, are yet speaking to them. 
And thus my heart's wish for you all, 

When soon or late you reach that coast, 

O'er life's rough ocean driven; 
May you rejoice, no wanderer lost, 

A family in heaven." 

JVational Scotch Churchy Regent Square^ 
January Istj 1842. 



FAMILY PRAYEHS. 



FIRST WEEK 



SUNDAY MORNING. 

O Lord, who after thou hadst made the 
heavens and the earth, didst rest on the sev- 
enth day from all thy works, and who hast 
commanded us, thy creatures to set apart a 
seventh portion of time to thy more peculiar 
service ; help us, we humbly beseech thee, to 
obey thy holy commandment, by sanctifying 
this day to thy honour. We thank thee that 
thou hast been pleased to require us to love and 
serve thee ; because we know that in thy fa- 
vour only is life ; and we bless thee that thou 
causest us to rest from our worldly callings 
this day, that we may enjoy more favourable 
opportunities for private, family, and public 
prayer, for hearing and reading thy holy word, 
for meditation, and for serious conversation 
with each other. 
7 



50 FIRST WEEK. 

O Lord, we desire to begin the day and the 
week with thee. Let a solemn sense of thy 
presence be upon our minds ; and while we 
offer our supplications, in the name of our only 
Meditator, the Lord Jesus Christ, comfort our 
hearts by the assurance that thou art nigh unto 
all them that call upon thee, even all such as 
call upon thee faithfully. Though we cannot 
see thee with our bodily eyes, enable us to be- 
lieve that the prayers which we offer up unto 
thee, shall be heard and answered. 

We are, indeed, O Almighty Father, un- 
worthy to be called thy children, because we 
have, in numberless instances, sinned against 
thee. Glory be to thy name, that thou hast 
given thy dear Son Jesus Christ to die for 
sinners : for we acknowledge that we must 
otherwise have perished everlastingly. But 
thou hast had mercy on us, and hast made 
known to us, by thy word, how we may be 
saved. O Lord, help us to ask, this day, with 
due anxiety of mind, as persons who are sen- 
sible of the value of their souls, " What must 
I do to be saved ?" 

We thank thee, O Lord, for the opportuni- 
ties which we are invited to enjoy this day, of 
offering up our prayers and praises publicly in 
thy house, and of hearing those blessed truths, 



SUNDAY MORNING. 51 

the knowledge of which is essential to the sal- 
vation of our souls. O give us grace dili- 
gently to attend thy word ; enable us to un- 
derstand it, and make us anxious to improve 
by it ; that the sermons which we hear may 
not rise up in judgment against us at the great 
day. Bless, O gracious God, the ministers of 
thy gospel, especially our own, who show un- 
to us the way of salvation. Do thou teach 
them, that they may be able to teach us. O 
Lord, may thy w^ord this day awaken our con- 
sciences, that w^e may see more evil in the na- 
ture of sin, more danger from the guilt of it, 
and be more earnest to secure an interest in 
Christ, the only Saviour from it. May our 
neighbours and acquaintances also be stirred up 
to a concern for their never-dying souls ; and 
may thy grace be set forth in saving us and 
ihem from the wrath to come, w^hich we con- 
fess we have deserved. 

We pray, O Lord, that we may be kept 
this day from all w^orldly thoughts and words; 
and may thy Spirit suggest such things to our 
minds as are suitable to this holy time. O may 
we keep thy sabbath in a becoming manner, 
and love it as the best day of the seven, be- 
cause it is a season dedicated to thy service. 
Preserve us, while in thy house, from a stupid 



5Z FIRST WEEK. 

and a wandering frame ; give us the spirit of 
grace and of supplications that we may wor- 
ship thee in spirit and in truth, strengthen our 
memories to retain what we hear, and make 
this day a time of real benefit to our souls, for 
which we may have reason to bless thee to all 
eternity. We are ignorant ; do thou instruct 
us. We are guilty ; do thou pardon us. We 
are wicked ; do thou convert us, for Jesus 
Christ's sake : to whom, with thee, O Father, 
and thee, O Holy Spirit, we ascribe all honour, 
glory, and praise, now, and for evermore. 
Amen. Our Father, which art in heaven, &c. 



SUNDAY EVENING. 

We thank thee, most merciful Father, for 
the spiritual and temporal blessings which we 
have received from thee this day. We ac- 
knowledge that we are altogether unworthy of 
every one of them. We adore thee for thy 
love, made known to us by the gospel of thy 
dear Son, for the means of grace, and the 
hope of glory. Oh, how wonderful it is, that 
to us miserable sinners should be preached the 
forgiveness of sins through the blood of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, and that we should be in- 



SUNDAY EVENING. 53 

vited to partake of it ! We have been told, 
O Lord, of our sinfulness, before thee ; we 
beseech thee to make us feel it ! May the re- 
membrance of our sins be grievous to us, and 
may the burden of them become intolerable. 
We have a gracious Saviour, who died to put 
away our sins ; O may we believe on him, and 
receive him into our hearts as the hope of glory ! 
And as we know that we cannot rightly under- 
stand what we have heard, nor practise it, 
without thy grace, O Lord, send to us thy 
Holy Spirit, according to thy merciful promise, 
that thy truth may take hold of our consciences, 
and be the means of bringing us to eternal life. 
Lord, give us now, at the close of this holy 
day, a due sense of the unspeakable value of 
our precious souls. May we be convinced that 
a man would be nothing profited, who should 
gain the whole world, and lose his own soul. 
One more precious sabbath is passed; and 
we know not that we shall see another. Be- 
fore another comes, we may be called into 
eternity. Oh, how many sabbaths have we 
lost ! How little has the present been spent 
as it ought to have been! How cold have 
been our prayers for thy grace ! How insensi- 
ble our hearts to thy word ! And though we 
have been informed that Christ died to save usj 



64 FIRST WEEK. 

how little have we been affected with that de- 
lightful truth ! O merciful God, forgive us, 
and help us this night, before we close our 
eyes in sleep, to flee to Christ for pardon and 
salvation ; that, if we lie down to rise no more, 
we may sleep in Jesus, and be eternally glori- 
fied through him. 

We pray thee, if we are permitted to see the 
light of another day, to grant that the recollec- 
tion of what we have heard may be fresh in our 
memories through the week. When we are 
tempted to sin, may we remember that sin cruci- 
fied our dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
O may we be enabled in dependence on thy 
grace, to sin no more ! May we shun the per- 
sons and places which have led us to transgress. 
May we fear to offend thee, more than to lose 
our very lives, and seek more to please thee, 
than to save those lives. May we be ashamed 
of sin, and of nothing else. May we not be 
ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, 
but manfully fight under his banner against sin, 
the world, and the devil, and continue his faith- 
ful soldiers and servants unto death. 

O God, whose nature and property is ever 
to have mercy, and to forgive, receive our hum- 
ble petitions ; and though we be tied and bound 
with the chain of our sins, yet let the pitiful- 



MONDAY MORNING. 55 

ness of thy great mercy loose us for the hon- 
our of Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Advo- 
cate. Amen. Our Father, which art in heaven, 
&c. 



MONDAY MORNING. 

Almighty and everlasting God, our heavenly 
Father, we acknowledge that we and all men 
were conceived and born in sin ; and what is 
born of the flesh is flesh ; and they who are in 
the flesh cannot please God, but live in sin, 
committing many actual transgressions. We 
know also that our Saviour Christ has said, No 
man can enter into the kingdom of God, except 
he be regenerate, and born anew of water and 
of the Holy Ghost. Mercifully look upon us ; 
wash us, and sanctify us with the Holy Ghost; 
that we, being delivered from thy wrath, may 
be received into the ark of Christ's church; 
and, being steadfast in faith, joyful through 
hope, and rooted in charity, may so pass the 
waves of this troublesome world, that finally 
we may come to the land of everlasting life, 
there to reign with thee, world without end, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

We are again entering, most gracious God, 
on the business of our lawful callings, in w^hich 



56 FIRST WEEK. 

thy providence has placed us. But we engage 
in the cares and business of the world this day 
with fear and trembling, lest through the temp- 
tations to which we are exposed, we should 
dishonour thee by sin, and so wound our own 
souls as to bring home with us at night a guilty 
conscience. O Lord, may this fear of offend- 
ing thee be kept alive in our hearts all this day. 
May our employments be sanctified, and made 
comfortable by a sense of thy presence. Let 
us remember, that, 'Ho eat bread in the sweat 
of our brow," is the effect of our sinfulness. 
May this thought humble us, and make us 
patient under our labours. May we be truly 
thankful, that we are hitherto preserved and 
have a hope, through grace, of getting safe to 
heaven. 

Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our 
hearts ! O, make it our earnest desire this day 
to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! May thy 
Holy Spirit instruct us, even while we are at 
our daily employment, and bring to our remem- 
brance what we yesterday heard. May we be 
kept from profaneness ; may we be preserved 
from every temptation ; may no sinful expres- 
sion proceed out of our mouth. O, may we 
remember that we are the Lord's servants! 



MONDAY EVENING. 57 

May all our conduct be under the direction of 
his word. May we abhor sin, and fly from it 
as from the face of a serpent; and may nothing 
ever induce us to say, or do the least thing 
which our consciences condemn. But may we 
rather suffer any thing than wound our blessed 
Saviour, and grieve the Holy Spirit. Hold 
thou up our goings in thy paths, that our foot- 
steps slip not. 

Help us, O Lord, to spend this day, as if it 
were the last we had to spend on earth. We 
know not that we shall live to see another. 
May God of his mercy save us for Jesus 
Christ's sake; in whose precious name, and 
comprehensive words, we sum up all our wants, 
saying. Our Father, which art in heaven, &c. 



MONDAY EVENING. 

We do not presume to come into thy pre- 
sence, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own 
righteousness, but in thy manifold and great 
mercies. We are not worthy so much as to 
lift up our sinful eyes to the throne of thy glory. 
But it is thou, O Lord, whose property is 
always to have mercy. Grant us, therefore, 
thy grace that we may appear before thee as 
8 



58 FIRST WEEK. 

creatures in the presence of their Creator, as 
criminals in the presence of their judge, as 
sinners in the presence of their gracious 
Saviour, and also as children before a kind and 
indulgent father. To thee, O Lord, belongeth 
mercy, but to us shame and confusion of face. 
We have sinned this day, O Lord, and deserve 
to die; but we have an Advocate with the 
Father, even Jesus Christ the Righteous, whose 
blood cleanseth from all sin. 

O Lord, teach us to pray ! Pour out upon 
us the spirit of grace and supplications ! May 
the Holy Spirit help our infirmities, for we 
know not what to pray for as we ought. May 
he make intercession for us with groanings that 
cannot be uttered ! O produce in us, desires 
after thy favour and image, so strong, that no- 
thing but real experience of thy pardoning 
mercy and sanctifying grace may satisfy them. 
We know that if we regard iniquity in our 
hearts, the Lord will not hear us, make us 
therefore honest in all our prayers, resolutions, 
and endeavours to mortify all sin, and to cleanse 
ourselves from all ungodliness and worldly lusts. 

We look up to thee this night, O most mighty 
Lord, who seest that we have no power of 
ourselves to help ourselves; beseeching thee to 
keep us both outwardly in our bodies, and in- 



MONDAY EVENING. 59 

wardly in our souls ; that we may be defended 
from all adversities which may happen to the 
body, and from all evil thoughts which may 
assault and hurt the soul. Thou knowest us 
to be set in the midst of so many and great 
dangers, that, by reason of the frailty of our 
nature, we cannot always stand upright ; grant 
to us such strength and protection, as may sup- 
port us in all dangers and carry us through all 
temptations. 

O God, whose mercy to us showeth thee to 
be Our Father, which art in heaven, ruling 
over all creatures, hallowed and praised for 
ever be thy name, for all thy goodness towards 
us; let thy kingdom of righteousness, peace 
and joy in the Holy Ghost, be established in 
our hearts ; and let thy kingdom of glory also 
come ; make us meet for the enjoyment of it, 
and put an end to all our troubles. Yet not 
our will, but Thy will be done, whatsoever it 
be concerning us in earth, whether for pros- 
perity or adversity ; let thy will be the disposer 
of us as it is of thy holy angels in heaven, who 
cheerfully submit unto it. Only give us so 
much as is necessary for our temporal subsis- 
tence each day, even our daily bread ; and we 
therewith will be content ; but let us not labour, 
only or chiefly, for the bread that perisheth, 



60 FIRST WEEK. 

but for that which endureth unto everlasting 
life. Let our chief care be about our souls, 
and forgive us, miserable sinners, all our tres- 
passes, for Jesus Christ's sake, who died to 
atone for them. Pardon us, good Lord, as we 
forgive them that trespass against us, in thought, 
word, or deed : and when our former offences 
are forgiven, O keep us from committing more. 
And lead us not, by thy providence or permis- 
sion, into the danger of temptation, lest we 
should fall by it , therefore leave us not, we 
beseech thee, to our enemy's malice or our 
own folly; but deliver us from evil, from the 
evil one, and from all evil things, of which sin 
is the chief These mercies we need ; and 
though we are most unworthy, yet we ask thee 
for them in Christ's name. Thou canst help 
us, for thine is the kingdom and the power. 
Thou hast freely and frequently relieved poor 
penitent sinners; for which men and angels do 
acknowledge that thine is the praise and the 
glory. And we also shall, by thy mercy to us, 
join in this just acknowledgment, which shall 
be made to thee in heaven and in earth for ever 
and ever, world without end. Amen. 



TUESDAY MORNING. 61 

TUESDAY MORNING. 

Almighty and most merciful Father, we 
have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost 
sheep. Having left thee, the good Shepherd, 
we have wandered into a wilderness of sin and 
misery, where we are in danger of perishing 
every moment. We have followed too much 
the devices and desires of our own hearts, 
which are only evil continually ; for the corrupt 
fountain which is within our hearts can send 
forth only filthy waters. We have offended 
against thy holy laws. Thy laws are holy, 
just and good ; and it grieves us to the heart, 
O Lord, when we remember how we have 
broken them by thought, word, or deed. For 
we have left undone those things which we 
ought to have done : and have done those things 
which we ought not to have done ; and all this 
is true of every day, and every waking hour 
of our lives, since we began to reason and to 
act. We are in our souls full of disease, and 
ready to perish. But do thou, O Lord, have 
mercy upon us, miserable sinners. Make us 
to feel the misery of sin that we may be 
heartily desirous of thy mercy. Spare us, O 
Lord, though we deserve to die eternally. For 
we confess our faults : and those who confess 



62 FIRST WEEK. 

them, with godly sorrow, thou hast promised 
to spare. O let not the guilt of our sins thrust 
us down into everlasting fire prepared for the 
devil and his angels. But, O Lord, give us 
true repentance ; that mourning over the sins of 
our hearts, and lives, we may fly to Christ as 
the only refuge for a guilty soul. 

Thou has mercifully spared us through 
another night. If thou, hadst not upheld our 
lives, we should have slept to wake no more. 
Help us seriously to ask ourselves this morn- 
ing, whether, if we had died last night, we 
have any reason from thy word to conclude 
that we should have died happily. O Lord, 
make us more earnest than ever we have been 
to save our souls. Help us to pray this morn- 
ing with all our hearts. And, oh what an 
instance of thy mercy, will it be, if we, thy 
poor sinful creatures, are, by the teaching of 
thy Spirit, brought to the knowledge of Jesus 
Christ, and to heaven at last, through faith in 
his name ! 

Thou hast safely brought us, O heavenly 
Father, to the beginning of this day: defend us 
we beseech thee, in the same, by thy mighty 
power : and grant that this day we fall into no 
sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but 
that all our doings may be ordered by thy 



TUESDAY MOR]SINa. 63 

governance, to do always what is righteous in 
thy sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

If thou, O Lord, wilt condescend to receive 
us, we do here desire to give up ourselves to 
thy service. We have found the ways of sin 
to be the ways of present naisery, and know 
that they lead to everlasting destruction. O^ 
lead us in thy ways, which are ways of pleasant- 
ness and peace. We know, indeed, that the 
gate which leadeth to life is strait, and that the 
way in which we must walk, if we would be 
saved, is narrow ; and that we shall find few 
companions to go with us. We see, O Lord, 
that the generality of mankind are walking in 
the broad road of sin and unconcern, that 
leadeth to destruction, both of body and soul, 
in hell. Lord, pity them, and enable us to 
pursue a different course : that so, at last, we 
may obtain an inheritance in thy kingdom, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord; who, in com- 
passion to our ignorance, has taught us thus to 
pray : Our Father, which art in heaven, &c. 



64 FIRST WEEK. 

TUESDAY EVENING. 

We are favoured, O Lord, by thy sparing 
mercy, with another opportunity of meeting 
together in thy holy presence, and of bending 
our knees before thy throne of grace. Oh how 
greatly are we honoured in being permitted to 
speak to thee, thou King of kings ! 

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for the 
mercies of another day. May thy goodness 
lead us to sincere repentance. 

In the contrite heart thou hast promised to 
dwell. O grant to us such a state of mind, that 
we may have thee for our friend and portion for 
ever. If thou art our Shepherd, and we thy 
sheep, who hear thy voice and follow thee, 
then we can want nothing. Thou givest* us 
food and raiment, although we have, by our 
sins, forfeited every morsel of bread we put 
into our mouths, and the cup of water which 
quenches our thirst. Give us thy grace, O 
Lord, that we may know, love, and serve thee; 
and we shall be content, whatever else thy 
wise providence allots for us, and be happy 
for ever. 

And now, O Lord, we commend our souls 
and bodies into thy hands this night. But we 
dare not close our eyes till we have looked up 



TUESDAY EVENING. 65 

to thee to take care of us. We may die with- 
out even time to cry for mercy. We there- 
fore commit ourselves to thy merciful protec- 
tion. We are sinners ; but thou didst provide 
a sacrifice upon the cross to save sinners, even 
the chief of them ; O Lord, save us, and grant, 
that whenever we are called out of time into 
eternity, we may die in peace with thee, 
through faith in the Redeemer's precious 
blood. O cleanse our consciences from the 
guilt of our sins : and may we lie down on our 
beds with a well-grounded hope, that, if we 
never awake again on earth, we shall be re- 
ceived into Abraham\s bosom. May our last 
thoughts be of thee and thy love to our sinful 
souls ; and when we awake in the morning do 
thou engage our first moments of recollection 
in looking to thee our God. 

Lighten our spiritual darkness, we beseech 
thee, O Lord ; and by thy great mercy del'end 
us from all perils and dangers of this night, for 
the love of thy only Son, our Saviour Jesus 
Christ. 

Every day, heavenly Father, brings with it 
trials and vexations ; all of which are the effects 
of our sins. Trouble is the lot of every man, 
because all have sinned. Glory be to thy 
name, that thou despisest not the sighing of a 
9 



66 FIRST WEEK. 

contrite heart, nor the desire of such as are 
sorrowful. Mercifully assist our prayers that 
we make before thee, in all our troubles and 
adversities, whensoever they oppress us ; and 
graciously hear us, that those evils which the 
craft and subtilty of the devil or man worketh 
against us, be brought to naught; and by the 
providence of thy goodness, may they be dis- 
persed, that we, thy servants, being hurt by no 
persecutions, may evermore give thee thanks 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Our 
Father which art in heaven, &c. 



WEDNESDAY MORNING, 

Protected by thy kind providence, during 
the past night, it is our privilege to bend the 
knee in prayer before our God and Saviour. 
Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
Maker of all things. Judge of all men ; help 
us to acknowledge and bewail our manifold 
sins, which we, from time to time, most griev- 
ously have committed, by thought, word, and 
deed, against thy Divine Majesty, provoking 
most justly thy wrath and indignation against 
us. May we truly repent, and be heartily sorry 
for our misdoings : may the remembrance of 



WEDNESDAY MORNING. 67 

them be grievous unto us, the burden of them 
intolerable. Have mercy upon us, most mer- 
ciful Father, for thy Son, our Lord Jesus 
Christ's sake ; forgive us all that is past, and 
grant that we may hereafter serve and please 
thee, in newness of life, to the honour and glory 
of thy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Thou hast commanded, O Lord, those that 
are weary and heavy laden with sin and suffer- 
ing, to come unto thee : and hast promised that 
thou wilt refresh them. Let us experience the 
refreshing influence of thy grace on our souls 
this morning. Remember not our offences, 
which are many and great ; neither take thou 
vengeance on our sins; but spare us good Lord, 
spare us, whom thou hast redeemed with thy 
most precious blood, and be not angry with us 
for ever. 

Deliver us this day, we beseech thee, from 
all sin and wickedness, or we shall fall into it; 
from our spiritual enemy, and from everlasting 
death. O Lord God of our salvation, we be- 
seech thee, by the Redeemer's agony and bloody 
sweat, by his cross and passion, by his pre- 
cious death and burial, by his glorious resurrec- 
tion and ascension, and by the coming of the 
Holy Ghost, to deliver our sinful souls from the 
curse of thy law, from the snares of Satan, 



68 FIRST WEEK. 

from the sin that most easily besetteth us, and 
so, in the end, from everlasting woe. 

Let not our minds be this day so taken up 
with our worldly business as to forget thee. 
But while we are diligent, may we also be 
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. May our 
souls, often rise to thee in prayer and praise. 
O that sin, wherever we discover it, may be 
hateful to us. If we hear thy holy name blas- 
phemed, or see thy holy laws broken, may our 
souls be grieved; may we mourn over the 
wickedness of those who thus dare to provoke 
God ; and may we reprove them in the spirit 
of meekness. May our consciences be en- 
lightened and tender. Whatever we do, may we 
do it as unto the Lord, and not unto men ; striv- 
ing to approve ourselves to Him who searcheth 
our hearts. O Lord, graciously help us to love 
our neighbours as ourselves and to do to all 
men as we would they should do unto us. May 
we honour and obey all that are put in author- 
ity over us; May we submit ourselves to all 
our governors, teachers, spiritual pastors, 
and masters. May we hurt nobody by word 
or deed. Make us true and just in all our 
dealings. Grant that we bear no malice or ha- 
tred in our hearts. Help us to keep our thoughts 
fixed on Christ, our tongues from evil ; and may 



WEDNESDAY EVENING. 69 

our bodies be the temples of the Holy Ghost. 
Grant that we may never covet another^s goods, 
but learn to do our duty in that state of life into 
which it hath pleased God to call us. And, as 
we know that we are not able to do these things 
of ourselves, nor to keep thy commandments, 
without thy special grace, therefore, O Lord, 
we call upon thee, in the words which thou 
hast taught us to use ; saying. Our Father, 
which art in heaven, &c. 



WEDNESDAY EVENING. 

O God, our Maker, Preserver, and bounti- 
ful benefactor, thou gavest us our being at first, 
and hast upheld it to this moment. Thou didst 
create us, and didst give us a reasonable soul, 
that we might believe in thee, fear and love thee 
with all our strength. We were sent into this 
world to worship thee, to give thee thanks, to 
honour thy holy name and word, and to serve 
thee truly all the days of our lives. But we 
have loved other things more than thee, we have 
feared other things more than offending thee ; 
and, this very day, we have merciful Redeem- 
er, forgotten thee, the Author of all our bless- 



70 FIRST WEEK. 

ings, and the Fountain of* all our comforts: 
Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable sinners ! 

We thank thee, O Lord, that there is a mer- 
cy seat, to which we are invited to come, that 
we may obtain pardon for the past, and grace 
for the future. O let us not pray as the hypo- 
crites do, repeating wiih their lips what they 
do not feel in their hearts ; lest our very prayers 
should in the last day rise up in judgment 
against us, and condemn us. While our knees 
are bended before thee, may we really feel an 
earnest desire after thy grace, to pardon what 
is past, and to preserve us from sinning any 
more. All our most secret thoughts are open 
to thee, as well as our words and w^orks. Help 
us seriously to examine ourselves this night. 
May our sins be brought to remembrance, and 
may we not suffer them to slip out of our minds, 
till we have a good hope that they are forgiv- 
en, for Christ's sake. Let us not commit our- 
selves to rest, either with a guilty conscience, 
or a careless heart. But may we lie down, 
trusting to the merits of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, and looking to him for the salva- 
tion of our souls. 

Suffer us not, O Lordj to suppose, that, by 
bending our knees in prayer, we do all that is 
required of us. May we be taught that prayer 



WEDNESDAY EVENING. 71 

is designed to bring our souls near to thee, that 
we may ask in order to receive, and seek that 
we may find ; and that our prayers are of no 
use any further, than as they are the means of 
obtaining thy mercy, of rendering us more se- 
rious in preparing for death and eternity, and 
of teaching us to love thee more, and to serve 
thee better. Therefore, O Lord, bestow upon 
us the Spirit of prayer ; that we may pour out 
our very hearts before thee as our heavenly 
Father, through Jesus Christ. As thou hast 
taught us to meet together, and in our poor and 
imperfect manner to offer up our supplications 
and praises day by day, O Lord, grant that we 
may become more spiritual, more acquainted 
with the blessed gospel, may love thy ways 
and ordinances with increasing fervour, hate 
sin with a more perfect hatred, and become 
more and more fit for thy eternal kingdom. 
O make us love to pray unto thee, and to 
praise thy name ! Angels love to sing thy 
praise ; thy servants on earth love to worship 
thee. O may we be numbered among them, 
and love thy service also. Grant this for Jesus 
Christ's sake. Amen. 

Our Father, which art in heaven, &c. 



72 FIRST WEEK. 

THURSDAY MORNING. 

O Lord, we come before thee in the name 
of thy dear Son our only Saviour, for whom we 
bless thee. Accept our gratitude for the safety 
extended to us, during the past night. Make 
known to us, we beseech thee, the power and 
willingness of Christ to save our souls. Ena- 
ble us to believe that he who gave himself for 
us, cannot be unwilling to receive, to pardon, 
and to bless us. And help us, in the belief of 
this, to come unto him, that we may find rest 
unto our souls. 

O Lord, our sins are more in number than 
the hairs upon our heads ; and every one of 
them deserves thy wrath. O may we feel the 
burden of them, and never rest satisfied till thou 
hast taken them away. We would lay our 
sinful souls at the foot of our blessed Saviour's 
cross, beseeching thee to give us a comfortable 
assurance of thy forgiving love, through the 
merit of his precious blood. 

We desire to remember that the vows of 
God are upon us, and that we are called by thy 
name. We pray therefore that we may be 
enabled to walk worthy of our holy calling ; and 
particularly that we may renounce the devil 
and all his works, the pomps and vanities of 



THURSDAY MORNING. 73 

this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the 
flesh ; that we may believe all the articles of 
the christian faith ; and that we may keep thy 
holy will and commandments, and walk in the 
same all the days of our life. All this we ac- 
knowledge to be our reasonable service, and 
our duty. But, oh, how guilty have we been 
in forgetting these obligations ? Instead of op- 
posing and resisting the devil and his works, 
the world and its temptations, the flesh and its 
lusts, we have, alas ! yielded to their influence. 
O thou God of all grace, forgive us, and help 
us every day to seek the knowledge of thy 
great salvation, and to remember how deserved 
our damnation will be, if we live and die in the 
neglect of it. May thy grace enable us to live 
soberly, righteously, and godly, in tliis present 
world ; and may we at last finish our course 
with joy. 

Almighty God, who hast given us grace at 
this time with one accord to make our common 
supplications unto thee, and hast promised that 
when two or three are gathered together in thy 
name, thou wilt grant their requests ; fulfil now, 
O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy ser- 
vants, as may be most expedient for them, 
granting us in this world, knowledge of thy 



10 



% 

74 FIRST WEEK, 



truth, and in the world to come, life everlasting. 
Amen. 

Our Father, which art in heaven, &c. 



THURSDAY EVENING. 

O MOST mighty God, and merciful Father, 
who hast compassion upon all men, and hatest 
nothing that thou hast made ; who wouldest 
not the death of a sinner, but rather that he 
should turn from his sin and be saved : merci- 
fully forgive us our trespasses ; receive and 
comfort us, who are grieved and wearied with 
the burden of our sins. Thy property is al- 
ways to have mercy ; to thee only it apper- 
taineth to forgive sins. Spare us, therefore, 
good Lord, spare thy people whom thou hast 
redeemed ; enter not into judgment with thy 
servants, who are vile earth, and miserable sin- 
ners : but turn away thine anger from us who 
meekly acknowledge our vileness, and truly 
repent of our faults ; and so make haste to 
help us in this world, that we may ever live 
with thee in the world to come, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. 

And while we are thus confessing our vile- 
ness, and begging mercy, we entreat thee also 



THURSDAY EVENING. 75 

to create in us a clean heart, and renew a right 
spirit within us. Turn thou us, O good Lord, 
and so we shall be turned. Enable us to fol- 
low the example of our blessed Saviour. Like 
him, may we be meek and lowly in heart. O 
may we never cherish anger, wrath, or malice 
in our hearts: Lord, suppress all these evil 
tempers. May no bitter words proceed out of 
our mouth. May our constant endeavour in 
all things be to please thee, our gracious and 
merciful Father. 

May we think every day, O Lord, of our 
latter end ; and may it be our great object to 
prepare to meet thee, our God, when thou 
comest to judgment. Especially when we are 
committing ourselves to rest at night, may we 
remember that we must soon lie down in the 
grave. We should desire, in thy awful pres- 
ence, O heart-searching God, to inquire to- 
night whether we have peace with thee, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord, and whether 
if our souls should now be called away we 
should find acceptance at thy bar. Thou hast 
commanded us to examine ourselves, whether 
we be in the faith, and whether Jesus Christ 
be in us or not. O may our conscience, under 
the direction of thy Spirit, give a true and 
honest answer to this question. And if any 



76 FIRST WEEK. 

doubt remain respecting the everlasting wel- 
fare of our souls, may we not rest until it i» 
removed. 

We bless thee and thank thy holy name for 
all the mercies of this day. We have, through 
thy kind Providence, escaped many dangers, 
of which we were not aware, and from which 
no care of ours could have saved us : may 
our hearts feel thankfulness, while our lips 
express it. It is thou who continuest us in 
health and in strength ; enable us to live sober- 
ly, righteously, and godly, in this present evil 
world. Thou feedest and clothest us. O 
Lord, we adore thy undeserved bounty; and 
beseech thee to add to these temporal good 
things the highest bounties of thy grace in Je- 
sus Christ. Feed our souls with the bread of 
life. Clothe them with the garments of salva- 
tion. Give us spiritual health and strength, 
that we may walk in all thy commandments 
and ordinances blameless. O Lord, receive 
our prayers; receive our praises; and, in the 
hour of death, O heavenly Father, receive 
our departing souls, for Jesus Christ's sake. 
Amen. 

Our Father which art in heaven, &c. 



FRIDAY MORNING. 77 

FRIDAY MORNING. 

We have laid down and slept, nnost gracious 
Father, and have again risen to acknowledge 
that it is thou only that makest us to dwell in 
safety. We are bound, O Lord, by every tie 
of love and gratitude, daily to bow our sinful 
bodies and souls before thy Divine Majesty. 
Oh, how^ guihy should we be, were we to ne- 
glect to worship thee ! We should then resem- 
ble the devil, that proud rebellious spirit, who 
is thine enen^iy and ours. But though thy mer- 
cy hath taught us to bend our knees before 
thee, yet, O Lord, how poor is the manner in 
which we adore thy name ! How little thank- 
fulness we feel for mercies received ! How 
little self-abasement for a sinful nature, and 
numberless acts of transgression whereby we 
have offended thee ! How faint are our de- 
sires to glorify thee this day ! O kindle in 
our hearts more love to thy name, and help us 
w^ith this new day to begin a new life. O, 
that we may begin and spend it in the faith and 
love of thee, our God ! 

We have lived hitherto in the world to little 
purpose. We were created, and sent into it 
to love and serve thee. But, alas, we have 
loved other objects more than thee : and have 



78 FIRST WEEK. 

served divers lusts and pleasures instead of 
thee. We have lived to ourselves niore than 
to thee ; and have sought our happiness in this 
world instead of seeking it in thee. In these, 
and a thousand other things, we are indeed 
guilty. But we trust that thou hast taught us 
to see our folly, and made us ashamed of it. 
Here, therefore, Lord, we offer and present 
unto thee ourselves, our souls, and bodies, to 
be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto 
thee, humbly beseeching thee, that we may be 
filled with thy grace and heavenly blessing. 
And, although we are unworthy, through our 
manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice, 
yet we beseech thee to accept this our duty 
and service, not weighing our merits, but par- 
doning our offences, tlirough Jesus Christ our 
Lord. 

Whether we eat or drink; whether we la- 
bour or rest from toil ; whether we walk by 
the way, or sit in the house ; may we do all 
things this day to the praise and glory of thy 
name. However we are engaged, may the 
love and presence of our gracious Saviour be 
uppermost m our minds. O suffer us not un- 
thankfully to forget his goodness to us ; but 
while our hands are employed in our worldly 
business, may our hearts be mourning for our 



FRIDAY EVENING. 79 

sins, meditating on the sacrifice that has been 
offered for us, and melted into love to Him 
who died for us, and rose again ! Oh, where 
should we have been at this moment had not 
Christ, the Son of God, pitied us in our low 
estate ! Blessings be on his holy name, for his 
mercy endureth for ever and ever ! 

O Almighty and everlasting God, vouchsafe, 
we beseech thee, to direct, sanctify, and gov- 
ern both our hearts and bodies in the ways of 
thy commandments, that through thy most 
mighty protection, both here and ever, we 
may be preserved in body and soul, through 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Our Father, which art in heaven, &c. 



FRIDAY EVENING. 

Almighty and everlasting God, who art al- 
ways more ready to hear than we are to pray, 
and art ever wont to give more than we can 
either ask or think, pour down upon us the 
abundance *of thy mercy; forgive us those 
things whereof our conscience is afraid, and 
give us those good things which we are not 
worthy to ask, but for Jesus Christ's sake. 

Once more, O Lord, we are permitted to 



80 FIRST WEEK. 

present ourselves before thee. Let thy merci- 
ful ear be open to our prayers : and that we 
may obtain our petitions, make us to ask such 
things as shall please thee. We know that we 
cannot pray aright, but as thy grace influences 
both our hearts and lips. O give us a hearty 
desire to pray. May we now seek thy grace, 
as a condemned malefactor would ask for 
mercy of his judge? and do thou show that 
mercy to our sinful souls, for thy great name's 
sake. 

Our days and years, O Lord, pass away 
with the greatest speed, and every one of them 
brings us nearer to death and eternity. O that 
we may feel a lively conviction of the vanity 
of all worldly pursuits, and the necessity, as 
well as the advantage, of living by faith on the 
Son of God, that, whenever death overtakes 
us, it may find us prepared to leave the world 
to come to thee. O God, who hast prepared 
for them that love thee, such good things as 
surpass man's understanding, pour into our 
hearts such love towards thee, that we, loving 
thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, 
which exceed all that we can desire. O, 
cause us to lie down this night with our affec- 
tions set upon things above, where Christ sit- 
teth on the right hand of God ; and, when we 



FRIDAY EVENING. 81 

come to die, may we submit with as much sat- 
isfaction as we are now about to undress our- 
selves, to sleep in our beds. 

O God, who alone canst order the unruly 
wills and affections of sinful men^ grant unto 
us that we may love the things which thou 
commandest, and desire that which thou dost 
promise ; and so, among the sundry and mani- 
fold clianges in this world, our hearts may 
surely there be fixed, where true joys are to 
be found. O suffer us not to be deceived by 
lying vanities. Suffer us not to deceive our- 
selves by the form of religion without the 
power of it. But grant us thy spirit, to think 
and to do always such things as are right, that 
we, who cannot do any thing that is good with- 
out thee, may, by thee, be enabled to live ac- 
cording to thy will ; not putting our trust in 
any thing that we do, (for, alas ! all our doings 
are nothing wordi,) but in Him who bore our 
sins, and carried our sorrows. May his blessed 
name, O Lord, become every day more pre- 
cious to us. May we always most thankfully 
receive thine inestimable benefits, and also daily 
endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed steps 
of his most holy life. 

Almighty God, who has promised to hear 
the petitions of them that ask in thy Son's 
11 



82 FIRST WEEK. 

name, we beseech thee mercifully to incline 
thine ear to us that have now made our prayers 
and supplications unto thee; and grant that 
those things which we have faithfully asked, 
according to thy will, may be effectually ob- 
tained, to the relief of our necessity, and the 
setting forth of thy glory, through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 

Our Father, which art in heaven, &c. 



SATURDAY MORNING. 

O MOST gracious Father, thou hast invited all 
who feel their need of thy grace, to come unto 
thee ; and hast promised that those who come 
thou wilt in no wise cast out. Thou fillest the 
hungry with good things, while the rich are 
sent empty away. O that we may feel that 
hunger and thirst after thy pardoning and sanc- 
tifying grace, which may bring us to the enjoy- 
ment of it. May we long for thee more than 
for our daily food ; and may we desire nothing 
so much as to experience thy peace, thy favour, 
and thy love. We are brought to the begin- 
ning of this day, that we may increase in the 
knowledge of thee, and give thee glory. O 



SATURDAY MORNING. 83 

grant that this great end of our life may be 
fully answered. 

Thou, O God, art a holy God; Christ our 
Saviour is a holy Saviour; thy Spirit is the 
Holy Spirit ; thy heaven is a holy place ; thy 
angels are holy angels; and thy redeemed peo- 
ple are a holy people. O Lord, make us also 
holy, for without holiness we cannot see thee. 
May our hearts be separated from sin and 
united to thee. May we not only abstain from 
sin, but really hate it, because thou hatest it» 
May we hate all sin. Whatever is inconsistent 
with thy will, that may we abhor. May we 
hate ourselves, because we are sinners and un- 
like thee. May we make conscience of our 
words and thoughts, as well as of our actions. 
May we desire not so much to appear good in 
the eyes of our fellow-creatures as to be so in 
thy sight, May we labour to approve our- 
selves to thee, thou heart-searching God. May 
thy word be the rule of our whole conduct; 
and thy glory the end of all our conversation 

Keep, we beseech thee, O Lord, both our 
souls and bodies, this day, with thy perpetual 
mercy ; and because, without thee, we cannot 
but fall, keep us ever by thy help from all 
things hurtful, and lead us to all things profit- 
able for our salvation. May thy grace always 



84 FIRST WEEK. 

go before and follow us, and make us continu- 
ally to abound in all good works. Increase 
and multiply upon us thy mercy, that thou, be- 
ing our ruler and guide, we may so pass 
through things temporal, that we finally lose 
not the things which are eternal. We acknow- 
ledge that we can do no good thing without 
thee; O grant us the help of thy grace, that, in 
keeping thy commandments, we may please 
thee both in will and deed. 

O Lord, as we are dying sinners, we be- 
seech thee, for the sake of thy dear Son, mer- 
cifully to hear our prayers, and to spare us 
who confess our sins unto thee, that we, whose 
consciences are accused by sin, by thy merci- 
ful pardon may be absolved. Thousands of 
poor sinners, O Lord, who have been guilty 
and vile like ourselves, have found mercy at 
thy hands. Thine ear has not become heavy, 
that it cannot hear, nor is thy hand shortened, 
that it cannot save. O may we be added to 
the number of those who shall be monuments 
of thy grace for evermore. 

We have nothing to plead in our own behalf, 
but that Christ died to save sinners. We lie 
entirely at thy mercy, and have no hope but in 
the name of that gracious Lord and Saviour, 



SATURDAY EVENING. 85 

who hath taught us to say, Our Father, which 
art in heaven, &c. 



SATURDAY EVENING. 

At the close of another day, and at the end 
of another week, we meet together, O Lord, 
with thankful hearts, to acknowledge thy 
goodness in preserving us. Put us in remem- 
brance, O Lord, that days and weeks, as they 
pass by, bring us nearer to death and eternity. 
We are now one week nearer to our end than 
we were at the close of the last. O that it 
may be found that we are more serious, and in 
a more awakened state of mind, and thereby 
become more meet for the inheritance of the 
saints in light. May we seriously reflect to- 
night, that man who is born of a woman hath 
but a short time to live, and is full of misery; 
that he cometh up, and is cut down like a flow- 
er ! that he fleeth as it were a shadow, and 
never continueth in one stay. May each of us 
remember, that in the midst of life we are in 
death. Of whom can we seek for succour but 
of thee, O Lord, who, for our sins, art justly 
displeased ? Yet, O Lord God most holy, O 
Lord most mighty, O holy and most merciful 



86 FIRST WEEK. 

Saviour, deliver us not into the bitter pains of 
eternal death. Thou knovvest, Lord, the secrets 
of our hearts, shut not thy merciful ears to our 
prayers ; but spare us, Lord, most holy, O God, 
most mighty, O holy and most merciful Sa- 
viour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer 
us not at our last hour, for any pains of death, 
to fall from thee. 

We are favoured once more, O Lord, with 
the prospect of the returning sabbath. If we 
are spared to see it, O that it may prove a day 
of rest, not only from our worldly calling, but 
from worldly thoughts and earthly cares. May 
our minds be prepared, by a solemn sense of 
thy presence, for spending it to thy glory and 
our own profit. May we not be suffered to 
waste the precious hours in our beds; but may 
we rise to pray to, and praise thee. May we 
awake with a devout sense of thy great good- 
ness; and, as our Redeemer on that day arose 
from the dead, may we arise in holy desires to 
the place of his heavenly abode, and join with 
his servants above in showing forth the glory 
of his name. O Lord, suffer not the sabbath 
that is coming to be spent as too many of those 
which are past have been spent; but may our 
souls be thereby prepared for an eternal sab- 
bath, and may we begin to join the employ- 



SATURDAY EVENING. 87 

ments and happiness of the future world, even 
while we remain in this. Heavenly Father, 
tune our hearts to sing thy praise. 

Help us, O Lord, to look forward with plea- 
sure to those precious means of grace, which 
thy sahbath affords. May we expect, through 
grace, to derive more real profit and pleasure 
from them, than we have ever found in this 
vain world. We are utterly unworthy ever to 
see the light of another sabbath, ever to hear 
another sermon, or to be told any more of a dy- 
ing Saviour's love. We are unworthy to tread 
thy courts, or to join thy people in those bless- 
ed exercises of prayer and praise, for which 
we were sent into this world. But, O Lord, 
thy mercy is great, and we are therefore en- 
couraged to hope that thou wilt not take us out 
of this world till thou hast fitted us for a better. 

Once more into thy gracious hands we com- 
mit our souls. O Lord, save them ; wash them 
in the precious blood of the cross; sanctify 
them by the grace of thy Holy Spirit; and, at 
last, receive them into thy everlasting kingdom, 
for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. 

Our Father, which art in heaven, &c. 



SECOND WEEK 



THE LORD'S DAY MORNING. 

O Thou Son of man, who art Lord also of 
the sabbath, give us in the faith of thee, to keep 
a sabbath of spiritual rest ! May we this day 
cease from our own works, and enter into thy 
rest. Son of God, who dost invite weary heavy- 
laden sinners to come unto thee, enable us to 
obey thy kind voice. Thou who dost promise 
to give them rest, fulfil thy word upon us, that 
we may find rest in thee from all our sins. 

O Lord, bring down our high thoughts, vain 
conceits, proud carnal hopes, and self-righteous 
confidences, that w^e may, as poor lost sinners, 
humbly bow to God the Father's sovereign 
grace, and cordially submit to be saved by the 
life, death, blood, and righteousness of his be- 
loved Son. To wiiom should we miserable 
sinners go, but unto thee, O Lamb of God ? 
for thou, and thou only, hast the words of eter- 
nal life. Thou, and only thou, " takest away 



THE lord's day MORNING. 89 

the sin of the world." — Thou, and thou alone, 
hast " made peace with God for sinners, by the 
blood of thy cross." Lord speak the words 
of eternal life to our souls, — take away the 
guilt of our sins, — bring the peace of God into 
our minds, and shed the pardoning " love of 
God abroad in our hearts." Grant that these 
words of our lips may be the fervent request 
of our hearts. May the word preached this 
day be mixed with faith, by the power of the 
Spirit, that it may sanctify our souls. Lord, 
enable us to give diligent heed to the truths de- 
livered unto us, lest we let them slip out of our 
minds. Apply them in the demonstration of 
the Spirit to our hearts, with power, liveliness, 
and consolation. May the preaching of Christ 
crucified be our glory. Let deep convictions 
be fixed on our minds, of the exceeding sinful- 
ness of sin, the perfect purity of thy righteous 
law, the piercing eye of thy strict justice, our 
own deplorable misery and wretchedness, our 
want of a better righteousness than our own, to 
justify us in thy sight. — and our constant need 
of Christ, in all his offices and relations, to 
gave us sinners. Holy Spirit, testify of Jesud 
to our hearts ; show some token upon our souls 
for good this day. Open our understanding, to 
understand the scriptures. Give us to hunger 
12 



90 SECOND WEEK. 

and thirst after Christ, the bread of life. — Let 
thy powerful influences command awe and rev- 
erence of soul before the Lord. Let us find 
that his banner over us is love ; his grace in us 
is sweet ; and his mercy surrounding us on 
every side, is joyful. Lord, " without thee we 
can do nothing." May thy power enable us to 
worship thee, in spirit and in truth, this day, 
that prayer may be our delight, and praise the 
joy of our souls. Lord, stir up our hearts to 
confess thy goodness, and to praise thee for 
preserving us from the dangers of the past 
night and for giving us the light of another 
sabbath. O may thy mercies excite gratitude 
and thankfulness of heart ! Sweeten every 
temporal blessing with a sense of covenant 
grace and love in Christ. Grant that we may 
enjoy all in God, from God, and to God, in 
Christ. 

Lord Christ, make thy presence known in 
the assemblies of thy people this day and bless 
all thy faithful ministers. While they are 
preaching pour out thy Holy Spirit. Cause thy 
word to run and be glorified in the conviction 
and conversion of sinners, and in the edification 
and comfort of thy saints. Quicken the dead 
in sin ; enliven the hearts and graces of thy 
people. Grant us to Jinow the joyful sound 



THE lord's day morning. 91 

of thy gospel ; to hear the voice of Jesus ; 
and to taste that thou art gracious to sinners : 
that we may shout thy salvation, and say, " Let 
thy name, O Lord, be praised from the rising 
up of the sun to the going down of the same." 
Water our souls by the word of thy grace, and 
with the unction of thy Spirit. Graft in our 
hearts the love of thy name : increase in us true 
religion: nourish us with all goodness : and of thy 
great mercy keep us in the same, by thy mighty 
power, through faith, unto everlasting salva- 
tion. Lord, make us strong in the grace which 
is in Jesus Christ ; strong to resist sin, Satan, 
and unbelief; strong to fight the good fight of 
faith, and to run with patience our heavenly 
race, that so we may obtain the crown of right- 
eousness, life, and glory, as thy free gift, 
through rich grace. Bless, in soul and body, 
all who are near and dear to us. Forgive all 
who are enemies against us. Lord, accept us 
in thy beloved Son ; out of his fulness supply 
all our need, that in faith and in truth we may 
joyfully call upon thee, as taught by our dear 
Saviour. " Our Father, which art in heaven," 
&c. 



92 SECOND WEEK- 

THE LORD'S DAY EVENING. 

O Lord Jesus Christ, enable us to adore thee, 
as the great Prophet of thy church. Cause 
our hearts to receive thy Divine teaching. 
Thou hast bid us say, " After we have done 
all, we are unprofitable servants." Give us 
the feeling conviction of this humbling truth, 
that we may confess it from the ground of our 
hearts. And yet, dear Lord, suffer not the 
sense of our unprofitableness ever to discour- 
age us from drawing nigh to thy holy, just, and 
righteous Father, by thee : for, glory be unto 
thee, thou art a Priest to atone for sin, and an 
Advocate to plead for poor sinners. O may our 
souls bless thy precious name, that thou hast 
not left sinners to procure acceptance with God 
by any works of their own, but dost give them 
boldness to come into the presence of a holy 
God, by thy precious blood; and hast conse- 
crated a new and living w^ay of access to God, 
through the veil of thy flesh. Grant us, through 
thee, to have free access to the Father, by the 
grace of thy Spirit. God, the Father of 
heaven, view us in the Son of thy love. Ac- 
cept and bless us with all spiritual blessings in 
him. In and by him, let us find heaven open 
to our prayers, and see a pardoning God smil- 



THE lord's day EVENING. 93 

ing upon our persons. Lord, help our unbe- 
lief; Lord, increase our faith in the word of 
thy grace, and in the promises of thy mercy in 
Christ, to hopeless, helpless, and miserable 
sinners. Grant, Lord, that we may ever see 
that, in ourselves, we are all such ; and yet be- 
hold the encouragement we have in thy gracious 
word, to come unto thee for hope, help, and 
mercy : O fix this truth deep in our hearts, — 
that without this thy unspeakable gift, we must 
all have inevitably perished ; but, believing in 
Christ, we shall most certainly be saved. Grant 
us now to experience this salvation in our souls, 
being passed from death unto life, in dying unto 
sin and rising again unto righteousness, in 
being delivered from the condemnation of thy 
law, and possessing justification unto life. Bless 
every means of grace we have attended to this 
day, to the quickening in us the hope of glory. 
Hath the gospel of thy salvation been preach- 
ed to our ears } Grant that it may take deep 
root in our hearts, so as to make Christ pre- 
cious to our souls, sin exceedingly sinful, and the 
ways of holiness most delightful. Forbid that 
we should be careless or forgetful hearers of 
thy word. Sanctify our memories, to retain 
the truth as it is in Jesus, our hearts to be- 
lieve in it, our spirits to love it, and our souls 



94 



SECOND WEEK. 



to glory in it,— that it may spread its Divine 
savour and influence over the whole of our life, 
walk, and conversation. Make the return of 
every sabbath on earth to fit us more and more 
for that rest which remaineth for thy people in 
glory. May the conclusion of every sabbath 
be to thy honour and glory, and to our profit, 
peace, and comfort. Pardon the iniquity of 
our holy things. In all we do, we come short 
of our duty, and of thy glory. Cause us ever 
to tremble to be found in ourselves, or to trust 
in anything we can do to save ourselves. fl 

O thou who searcheth all hearts, enable us 
to examine ourselves, and to prove our own 
selves, that we may know ourselves : Suffer 
none of us to sleep in an awful state of sin, 
but awaken in us a deep concern to know 
whether we are in Christ, and to enjoy some 
precious evidence that Christ is in us, and that 
we are interested in the salvation of the Son 
of God. Holy Spirit, make us to know our- 
selves, even as we are known by thee. 

Father of all mercies, and God of all our 
comforts, accept the praises of our lips, for all 
thy blessings this day bestowed upon us. Par- 
don all our sins. Receive us to the arms of 
thy mercy to-night. Preserve us from all evil, 
and bless us with every good. Visit the sons 



MONDAY MORNING. 95 

of sorrow and daughters of affliction. Be a 
very present help to thy people in all their 
trouble. Compass them about with songs of 
deliverance. Bless all we love, and all who 
love us. Pity those that hate us. Lord, help 
us to love, pray for, and forgive them. Grant 
that we may live in love to thee, and all man- 
kind. May w^e lie down in peace w^ith God, 
through Christ, and in peace with all men. 
Now, to the ever-glorious Trinity in one God- 
head, be all the honour and glory, of all we 
have and are, and of all we hope for through 
our only Advocate, Jesus Christ, Amen. 



MONDAY MORNING. 

Lord God Almighty, who art a Father to 
bless, a Redeemer to save, and a Spirit to 
sanctify miserable sinners ; look down in mercy 
upon us this morning, and enable us to look up 
to thee in faith and in hope. Glory and praise 
be unto thee, O Lord, for the light of another 
day, and for all thy mercies the night past. 
Affect our minds with a deep sense of our de- 
merits, and of thy long-suffering goodness. 
Enable us to lift up our hearts unto thee, as a 
God hearing prayer, and pardoning sinners, 



96 SECOND WEEK. 

who come unto thee in the name of thy beloved 
Son. O Son of God, who wast born to save, 
to justify, and to redeem sinners, have mercy 
on us. Thou who art exalted to be a Prince 
and a Saviour, to give repentance and remis- 
sion of sin, grant us repentance unto life, and 
forgiveness of our sins. Sin hath made us mis- 
erable. Lord, thy love only can make us 
happy. Sin has polluted us ; thy blood only 
can cleanse us. Sin has brought the curse of 
the law upon us. O thou who wast made a 
curse for us, let thy righteousness free us from 
all condemnation. 

Lord, teach us to know ourselves. Humble 
xrs in our own sight. Save us from despair. 
Suffer us not to doubt of thy will and power 
to save us to the very utmost, if we come unto 
thee. Never suffer unbelief to work in us, and 
to prevail over us, so as to keep us from 
coming to thee. Give us steadily to believe 
thy glorious truths, thy rich grace, thy pre- 
cious love, so as to experience thy everlast- 
ing salvation, in all its comfort and blessedness. 
Banish those doubts and fears which keep our 
hearts from seeking, loving, and glorifying 
thee. Pardon our unbelief. Give us more 
grace. If we have precious faith. Lord in- 
crease it. Thy grace alone is sufficient for 



MONDAY MORNING. 97 

US. Perfect thy strength in our weakness. 
Make us sensible that we live in a wicked, and 
an ensnaring world, that the love of it is contrary 
to the love of God, — '^ that the friendship of it 
is enmity against God," and that, " if any man 
love the world, the love of the Father is not in 
him." Deliver us from this present evil world ; 
save us from all the evil that is in the world. 
Let thy love reign in our hearts, and put the 
world under our feet. So perfect us in thy 
love, and by thy love, that our souls may rise 
above the love of vain and earthly objects, 
which oppose thy glory and prevent our en- 
joying sweet '' fellowship with God the Father 
and his Son Jesus Christ." New create us, 
in him, unto all good works, that we may walk 
in them to thy honour and glory. Enable us to 
resist Satan, to strive against sin, and study to 
please thee in all things, through the holy faith 
and purifying hope of thy gospel. 

Bless us. Lord, with thy presence, this day. 
Grant that we may begin it in thy strength, 
and end it to thy glory. In our different states 
and stations of life, may thy grace enable us to 
do our duty with cheerfulness and fidelity. 
Lord, reign in our hearts by thy love, and sub- 
due every evil temper and unruly passion. Grant 
that we may walk in thy light and truth, and 
13 



98 SECOND WEEK. 

let our light so shine before men, that they, 
seeing our good works, may glorify Ihee. 
Have mercy upon all men. Bless those whom 
thou hast set over us. Bless the nation where 
we live. Forgive our crying sins. Avert de- 
served judgments. Pour upon us undeserved 
mercies. Let thy gospel continue with us in 
its purity. Bless all thy ministers who preach 
it. Preserve, sanctify, and comfort all thy 
faithful people. Remember, in grace, and 
mercy, all that are near and dear to us. Grant 
them to know thy love, rejoice in thy salva- 
tion, and live to thy glory. In mercy hear our 
prayers. Accept us in thy beloved Son. O 
Lord, for his sake, do for us abundantly more 
than we are able to ask, or worthy to expect, 
for the glory of thy name. Amen. 



MONDAY EVENING. 

O THOU high and lofty One, who inhabitest 
eternity, whose name is holy, who art of purer 
eyes than to behold iniquity, — glory be to thee, 
that thou dost not spurn sinners from thy pres- 
ence, but invitest them to draw nigh unto thee: 
for thou canst be just, and yet the justifier of 
him who believeth in Jesus. Bless the Lord, 



MONDAY EVENING. 99 

(J our souls, and all that is within us praise his 
holy name : for thou hast not left us in doubt- 
ful suspense to ask, how shall we come before 
the Lord ; or how shall we be accepted of the 
Most High God. Christ is this way. He 
hath assured us, no man cometh unto the 
Father but by him. Let us find mercy to pardon 
our sins ; and grace to sanctify, comfort and re- 
fresh our souls. May both flow to us through 
Jesus the Son of thy love, by the power of the 
Holy Spirit. 

We thank thee that is our special mercy to 
live where the light of the gospel shines, and 
where the joyful sound of salvation by Christ 
is proclaimed. May our souls see the light of 
truth, hear the joyful sound of salvation, love 
it, rejoice in it, and bless and praise thee for it. 
Lord, forbid that ever we should lightly regard 
thy peculiar mercy, or neglect thy glorious 
salvation. Thou, Lord, who, in the days of 
thy flesh, didst open thy disciples' understand- 
ings to understand the scriptures, mercifully 
open ours also. Thou who didst cause their 
hearts to burn within them, let us feel the same 
power from thee. Make us joyfully to know 
the things which belong to our peace. Teach 
us to know, that Christ, of God, is made unto 
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and 



i 



100 SECOND WEEK. 



redemption. Lord thy words are spirit and 
life. Grant us to experience their power and 
spirituality. Give us to love thy word, and 
rejoice at it, as those who find great spoil. 
Give us grace to search the scriptures, which 
testify of thee, O Lord. O Divine Spirit, who 
hast caused all holy scripture to be written 
for our learning, grant that we may in such 
wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and in- 
wardly digest them, that by patience and com- 
fort of thy word, we may embrace by faith^ 
and ever hold fast, in love, the blessed hope of 
everlasting life, which thou hast given us in 
our dear Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Enable us this night to come unto thee as 
our only Saviour, our only hope, the Lord our 
rio:hteousness. We are continuallv surrounded 
with enemies, dangers, and temptations. Pre- 
serve and keep us by thy watchful eye and 
Almighty grace. Subdue all within, that is 
contrary to thy holy will. Surround us this 
night by thy all-preserving goodness. We 
have no might to stand, or power of our own 
to keep ourselves. O be thou our shield and 
our defence from the face of every enemy. 
Lord, thou hast told us, '' but one thing is 
needful ;" O may we believe thee, and choose 
that good part of sitting at thy blessed feet, 



MONDAY EVENING. 101 

and hearing thy gracious words, that we may- 
daily learn of thee the greatness of thy love to 
us, miserable sinners, and the fulness, freeness, 
and perfection of thy salvation for us ; so shall 
we trust thee more, love thee better, and serve 
thee with greater devotion of heart and life. 
Grant that this may be our constant study, to 
be thy devoted and faithful servants to our 
lives' end : for in thee is all joy and peace, and 
in thy service all comfort and happiness. Thus 
let us find it, that we may say, thy service, 
O God, is perfect freedom ; and experience 
that in thy presence there is fulness of joy ; 
that we may at last enjoy those pleasures which 
are at thy right hand for evermore. For all the 
blessings and comforts of the day past, give us 
grace to be thankful. Lord, keep us from all 
dangers and evils this night. Bless us in lying 
down to rest. May our weary bodies be re- 
freshed, and our immortal souls kept unto the 
day of Christ. In him may we be found in 
life, in death, and in the awful day of judg- 
ment, that we may joyfully sing, " Salvation to 
God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
Lamb, for ever and ever." Amen. 



102 SECOND WEEK. 

TUESDAY MORNING. 

Lord of all grace, teach us how to pray ; 
open our lips, that our mouths may show forth 
thy praise. Holy Spirit, help our infirmities. 
Pour upon us the grace of prayer and the spirit 
of supplication, that we may be engaged this 
morning in worshipping, praising and adoring 
the Lord of our life, the Father of our mercies, 
and the God of our salvation, in Christ Jesus. 
As the light of the morning has chased away 
the darkness of the night, so, O Son of Right- 
eousness ! arise upon our souls, and dispel the 
darkness of ignorance and unbelief that we 
may walk as the children of light, and of the 
day. Thou hast said, " He whofolloweth me, 
shall not walk in darkness ; but shall have the 
light of life.''' " Draw us, and we shall run 
after thee." Thou dost command us, '' Look 
unto me, and be ye saved." Give us faith to 
believe thee, and power to obey thee, that we 
may find salvation in thee. We have destroyed 
ourselves: Lord, make us know and feel it, 
that we may glory of, rejoice in, and praise 
thee for that precious declaration. " In Me is 
thine help found." Grant that the belief of 
this may lead us out of our helpless selves, and 
encourage us to come unto thee for all hope 



TUESDAY MORNING. 103 

and help. When sin, temptations, lusts, evil 
tempers rise, and we are in danger of being 
overcome of evil, O Lord stand by to support 
and keep us, looking unto thee for victory. 
May the sound of that word pierce our very 
hearts, " If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; 
but if ye through the Spirit, do mortify the 
deeds of the body, ye shall live." Holy 
Spirit, teach us that this is to be our work to- 
day, and every day we live. The power is 
thine ; O bestow it upon us, that we may live 
holy, walk comfortably and enjoy thy heaven- 
ly peace and love. Whatever work we are 
called to engage in this day, may w^e remember 
to serve the Lord Christ in it, to aim at his 
glory in all we do, and do nothing contrary to 
his will ; looking for his grace to be with us, 
his power to bless us, and his love to make our 
souls happy. 

May we " who name the name of Christ, 
depart from all iniquity.'^ O, for thy name's 
sake forbid that we should rest barely on the 
Frame, without experiencing the inw^ard life, 
grace, and power of the Spirit of Christ upon 
our souls : for thou hast assured us, " if any 
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of 
his." Let thy grace be manifest in us this 
day, by our lives and conversation. Make us 



104 SECOND WEEK. 

watchful over ourselves, — watchful against all 
evil, and watchful unto prayer. O God, re- 
mind us that thine eyes are ever upon us. Let 
us continually have the eyes of our minds upon 
thy truths, thy promises, and thy threatenings, 
ever remembering the Lord is at hand. O may 
we use this world as not abusing it. May we 
not be " slothful in business, but fervent in 
spirit, serving the Lord." Lord make us 
know that we are not our own, but that we 
are bought with the price of thy precious 
blood. Make us thy peculiar people, zealous 
of good works. Bless the nation where we 
live. O Lord, send forth a spirit of reforma- 
tion among us. Turn us from our crying sins, 
lest they bring down thy threatened judgments 
upon us. May all who profess to know thy 
name, know the comfort of trusting in thee. 
Bless our dear relatives, in providence and in 
grace, in their bodies and in their souls. O may 
they know thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ, whom thou hast sent. Lord, for thine 
infinite mercy's sake in Christ, cause us to rise 
from our knees with humble, grateful, obedient 
hearts, that under the influence of thy special 
grace, we may spend this day in thy service 
and to thy glory, through Jesus thy beloved 
Son, our precious Saviour, Amen. 



TUESDAY EVENING. 105 

TUESDAY EVENING. 
OLoRD God Almighty give us to believe 
that, as surely as we are now on our knees 
before thee, we must all soon stand before 
thy judgment-seat. Grant that the thoughts of 
that tremendous day and the solemn event that 
awaits each of us, may be deeply impressed 
upon our souls, that we may flee from the 
wrath to come, to lay hold of the sceptre of 
thy mercy in Christ Jesus, and escape the 
curse of thy wrath, in the day of judgment. 
Glory be to thee, O Lord, that thou hast told 
us, " Behold, now is the accepted time ; behold 
now is the day of salvation." Lord, make 
this an accepted time to us; may this be a 
day of salvation, in which our souls may be 
succoured, saved and comforted by thee. 
Give us grace to draw nigh unto thee, not only 
with our lips, but in heart-affection also ; and 
do thou draw nigh to us, and bless us. Visit 
us with a sense of thy peace, the comforts of 
thy love, and the joys of thy salvation. O 
Lord, thou Friend of sinners, thou Saviour of 
the hopeless, the wretched, and the miserable, 
save us from our sloth, carelessness and stupid- 
ity of soul. Awaken in us a quick and feel- 
ing sense of our manifold sins, and our innu- 
14 



106 SECOND WEEK. 

merable wants, that we may come this night to 
thy blood for pardon, and to thy grace for sup- 
ply. O that in and under a sight and sense of 
all our wretchedness, that word may bring 
hope and relief to our minds, " God was in 
Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not 
imputing their trespasses unto them." Lord, 
give us to know thy reconciling love, and par- 
doning grace in Christ, that we may be recon- 
ciled to thee, and love thee with all our 
hearts and minds and serve thee with all our 
strength. We are tied with the chain of our 
sins, and bound by the fetters of unbelief. O 
Holy Spirit, set our souls at liberty. Son of 
God, make us free, and we shall be free indeed : 
free to love God ; free to worship him, in spirit 
and in truth ; free to rejoice in thee, while we 
have no confidence in the flesh ; free to walk 
in all the ordinances of the Lord blameless; 
and free to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 
O may our souls pant after this glorious freedom, 
and never, never rest till we enjoy the liberty 
wherewith Christ makes sinners free. 

Glory and praise be unto thee, for all the 
mercies and comforts this day bestowed on us. 
Lord, inspire our souls with gratitude for them 
and with a deep sense of our utter unworthiness 
of the least of them ; for, we are sinners. May 



TUESDAY EVENING. 107 

the sense of this heighten thy goodness to us, 
and exalt thy mercies bestowed on us. Thou, 
Lord, doest good to the wretched, bestowest 
mercy upon the miserable, and multipliest thy 
favours upon the unworthy; or else it had 
been our doom to want the blessings and com- 
forts of this hfe, and to be destitute of the least 
hope of that life, which is to come. Lord, 
keep us from every danger, protect us from 
all evil, and surround us by thy power, that 
no harm happen to us. O, grant undisturbed 
repose to our bodies, and rest and peace to our 
souls. Have mercy upon all men. Bless all 
who are of the household of faith. May all 
in authority over us have wisdom to act for 
the nation's good, and hearts devoted to thy 
glory. Blessed be thy name for a few who 
are good as well as great. Lord, keep them 
faithful to thee and thy cause. Relieve and 
comfort all who are in distress. Forasmuch as 
we know neither the day nor the hour when 
the Son of man cometh to judgment, O may 
we be found watching, praying and working 
the things which are good and well-pleasing 
in thy sight, remembering the night cometh 
when no man can work. Lord make us fruit- 
ful in every good word and work. Stir us up 



lOS SECOND WEEK. 

to give all due dilligence to work out onr own 
salvation with fear and trembling, ever know- 
ing that it is thou who workest in us both to 
will and to do of thy good pleasure. Lord, 
work in us, and we shall work for thy honour 
and glory. Father of all mercies, to thee we 
look. For Christ's sake, look upon us, accept, 
pardon, and bless us now and evermore, in life 
and in death, in time and to eternity. O may 
we be of that happy number who shall sur- 
round thy throne in glory, and ascribe salva- 
tion to God and the Lamb, for ever and ever. 
Amen. 



WEDNESDAY MORNING. 
O Lord Jesus Christ, "who hast ascended 
up on high, led captivity captive, and received 
gifts for men ;" pour down the gifts and graces 
of thy Spirit upon us, that we may worship and 
adore thee as our Saviour, and thy Father as 
our Father. We are the preserved of thy 
power from day to day. We are raised, by 
thy mercy, from our beds of rest, to enjoy the 
light of another morning. We are continued 
in being by thy long-suffering goodness. Thou 
loadest us with thy benefits. Lord, forbid that 
we should be unmindful of thy mercies, or un- 



WEDNESDAY MORNING. 109 

thankful for thy goodness. As thy creatures, 
we are bound to praise thee. O make us new 
creatures in Christ, that we may love thee, de- 
light our souls in thee, and devote ourselves to 
thee. O that we may put on Christ Jesus this 
morning, that we may not make provision for 
the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. May we 
receive every grace and blessing out of the ful- 
ness of Christ. thou great Searcher of 
hearts, thou seest whether these glorious bless- 
ings are, or are not, the earnest desire of our 
souls. If any one of us before thee is thought- 
less, careless, and indifferent about them, O pity 
that soul. Send forth thy light and thy truth 
into that heart, that we may all, with united 
voice, fervently cry, " Lord, save us, or we 
perish." Lord, pity us, the inhabitants of a 
body of sin and death. Save us from ''the cor- 
ruptions that are in the world through lusts." 
" Direct our hearts into the love of Christ." 
Guide our feet to walk in Christ, who is the 
way, the truth, and the life. Give us peace in 
him, peace from him, and may his peace con- 
troul all our turbulent passions, and subdue all 
our disorderly affections. Lord, thou knowest 
^' it is not in man who walketh, to direct his 
steps." Our ways are sin, folly, and death. 
" Thy ways are ways of pleasantness, and all 



110 SECOND WEEK. 

thy paths are peace.*' Lord be our Guide and 
our Preserver this day. Bless us with upright 
hearts to thee, and sincerity before thee. What- 
ever we meet with this day, in the course of 
thy providence, Lord, overrule all by the power 
of thy grace, that all things may work together 
for our good and thy glory. Give us to expe- 
rience the power of that truth, " The just shall 
live bv faith.'' mav we '• believe, to the 
saving of our souls." May we find the power 
of a holy faith, working by the love of an in- 
carnate God, to all holiness and obedience, — to 
the love of thee, and all men, and to the glory 
of thy blessed name. O Lord, bless all 
raen : especially those of the household of 
faith. Remember all our dear relations and 
friends. make them friends of Jesus, and 
children of God. Bless and forgive our ene- 
mies ; and pardon us in whatever we have done 
amiss to them. Grant that we may seek peace 
and pursue it ; and if it be possible, as much as in 
us lies, may we live peaceably with all men. 
Lord, grant that the gospel of thy peace may 
run and be glorified, in the hearts, and by the 
lives of all its professors. Bless and prosper 
the labours of all faithful ministers of it Make 
them lively in their own souls, and fill them 
with zeal in their work. Lord, make us, in our 



WEDNESDAY EVENING. Ill 

day and generation, useful and profitable. May 
we set out afresh to serve God, and to follow 
Christ. Hear us, O most merciful Father, and 
cause us to rise from our knees, refreshed with 
thy love, and animated by thy grace, to devote 
ourselves to thy glory this day, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord ; to whom with thee, O Fath- 
er, and thee, O Holy Spirit, be all the glory 
of all that we have, and all that we hope for, 
now and for ever. Amen. 



WEDNESDAY EVENING, 

O Lord the Holy Ghost, thou blessed In- 
spirer of all that is good in the hearts of sin- 
ners, graciously enlighten our minds to see the 
preciousness of Christ, and powerfully convert 
our hearts from sin and vanity to him, for righ- 
teousness, peace, and holiness. — Glory be to 
God that there is '' an Advocate with the 
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is 
the propitiation for our sins." O may we 
firmly believe this in our hearts ; and, in the 
faith of this, present our souls this night before 
our Father's throne of grace, for access and ac- 
ceptance. Heavenly Father, grant us to come 
unto thee with the faith, fear, and love of thy 



112 SECOND WEEK. 

dear children in our hearts, and do thou pour 
down the comforts of thy fatherly love upon 
us. Under a sense of the manifold mercies of 
this day, give us grace to approach thee with 
thankful hearts. May our mercies be height- 
ened by a sense of our unworthiness of them, 
and as bestowed by thee, against whom we 
have all sinned, so as to cause us to sink into 
deep self abasement, and cry out, with hum- 
ble gratitude, " Lord, what is man, that thou 
art mindful of him ! What are we, the fallen 
children of an apostate parent, that thou 
shouldst daily visit us in mercy, and pour down 
thy manifold blessings upon us .^" Great as thy 
goodness is, abundant as thy mercies are, yet, 
O Lord, thy grace to our immortal souls infi- 
nitely exceeds all : for thou hast not spared 
thine only beloved Son, but hast freely given 
him up for us all. Open our eyes to see the 
wonders of this love. Cause our hearts to 
meditate upon it: and grant that each of 
us may know, by blessed experience, " the 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of 
God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost.'^ 
Lord, there is no soul before thee so dead in 
sin but thou canst quicken ; no eye so blind but 
thou canst open ; no ear so deaf but thou canst 
cause to hear thy voice. O give us to plead 



WEDNESDAY EVENING. 113 

in faith thy precious promises, and in longing 
hope to look up to thee to fulfil them unto us. 
Lord, thou hast said, " Where two or three are 
met together in thy name, there am I in the 
midst of them." Let us now find thy presence 
in the power of thy Spirit, speaking peace to 
our consciences, love to our hearts, and joy to 
our souls. We are miserable sinners ; Lord, 
^'save us, and call us, according to thine own 
purpose and grace in Christ Jesus, that we may 
be a people formed for thy glory, who shall 
shew forth thy praise." We are fallen crea- 
tures. Lord, raise us from our fall. Restore 
us to thy favour. Restamp thine image upon 
our souls, that we may bear the image of the 
second Adam, — the Lord from heaven. We 
know not but this night our souls may be re- 
quired of us. O help us to '^ examine our- 
selves, whether Christ Jesus be in us or not ;" 
for, if Christ be not in us, we are yet in our 
sins, and disapproved of thee. O cause each 
of us to tremble to be found out of Christ, liv- 
ing in our sins, dying in our sins, and rising to 
judgment in our sins : for to all such, thou, O 
God, " art a consuming fire." Lord, have 
mercy upon all men. Bless all thy people out 
of the fulness of Christ. Visit and comfort the 
sons and daughters of sorrow and affliction ; 
15 



114 SECOND WEEK. 

support them under all their trials, strengthen 
them under their weaknesses, and give them a 
happy issue out of all their distresses. Let thy 
gospel have free course, run, and be glorified, 
to the conversion of sinners, and to the build- 
ing up thy people in their most holy faith. 
Bless the souls, and prosper the labours of all 
thy faithful ministers. Keep their souls alive to 
thee, and in sweet fellowship with thee. May 
all thy people experience the same rich grace. 
O mav our rulers live before thee, and mav this 
nation be blessed by thee. Lord, continue thy 
gospel among us, in its power, light, and glory. 
May our souls be thereby edified and built up 
in the love of God the Father, in the grace of 
God the Son, and in the comforts of God the 
Holy Ghost, to the everlasting honour and 
praise of the blessed Trinity. Amen. 



THURSDAY MORNING. 

O MOST holy and righteous Lord, forbid that 
we should come into thy presence trusting in 
our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and 
great mercies, manifested in Christ Jesus to 
miserable sinners. We are not worthy so much 
as to gather up the crumbs under thy table ; 



THURSDAY MORNING. 115 

but thou art the same Lord, whose property is 
always to have mercy on every penitent and 
believing soul, through the Son of thy love. 
Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, to come be- 
fore thee in humility, and to call upon thee in 
faith, that we may be accepted in thy beloved 
Son, and heard and answered for his sake. 
Thou, O God, has assured us, " he that offereth 
thee praise, honoureth thee." O may we thus 
honour thee this morning! Thou art w^orthy 
of all the praise, and honour, and glory of all 
that we are, all that we enjoy, and all that we 
hope for. Every good and perfect gift cometh 
down from thee. Lord, accept the praises of 
our lips. Enable us to give the praises of our 
hearts, and to devote our lives to thy glory and 
service this day. May we begin this day in 
thy fear, live under an abiding sense of thy 
presence all the day, and conclude it in thy ser- 
vice, — doing and suffering thy will, O God, 
from the heart. Thou, Lord, In providence, 
hast placed us in different states and stations in 
life; we have each of us a work given us to 
do, and different duties to discharge. We all 
need thy grace, w^ithout which we are insuffi- 
cient of ourselves to please thee. Let thy 
grace be suflScient for us, to enable us to walk 



116 SECOND WEEK. 

before thee in love, and to serve and please 
thee in newness of life. 

Lord, convince each of us, that v^ithout faith 
it is impossible to please thee. Make each of 
us partakers of precious faith, that we may 
walk by faith, in holy communion with thee, 
finding the power of that faith which works 
by thy love, and draws out our hearts and 
aflfections in love to thee, O Saviour of sin- 
ners. — Lord, so convince each of us of sin, 
that we may feel the burden of it, so as to 
come to thee for ease of mind, peace of con- 
science, and rest of soul. Forbid that any of 
us should live in carnal securitv, and walk in 
false peace through the ignorance of our 
hearts, and the blindness of sin. O cause the 
light of truth to shine, and the glory of grace 
to arise upon our souls, that we may know 
ourselves even as we are known by thee ; and 
know thee, the only true God, in Jesus Christ, 
as thou hast revealed thyself in the word of 
truth. We are assured '' the natural man can 
neither discern nor know the things of the 
Spirit; they are foolishness to him." Gracious 
God, leave us not in our deplorable state by 
nature. Make us spiritual, that we may 
approve the things which are spiritual, and 
worship thee in spirit and in truth. Suflfer us 



THURSDAY MORNING. 117 

not to live by sense, but enable us to walk by 
faith. Give us thy Spirit, that we may know 
the things which are freely given us of God. 
Thou hast prepared for them that love tbee, 
such good things as the carnal eye hath not 
seen, the sensual ear hath not heard, neither 
hath it entered into the unregenerate heart to 
conceive. Give us to see thee by the eye of 
faith, to hear thy voice in the word of truth, 
and conceive in our hearts thy love, thy match- 
less love, O God. As sinners, we have all 
forfeited every blessing, — are exposed to end- 
less torment, and deserve eternal wrath. But 
let us find every curse averted from us, and 
every blessing restored to us, by thy holy life 
and agonizing death, thy atoning blood, and 
justifying righteousness, O, thou Lamb of God ! 
Thou art the only Saviour of sinners. Spirit 
of God, grant that Christ may be our only plea, 
and our precious Saviour. May mercy and 
grace flow to us out of his fullness. Merciful 
High Priest send down the blessing and com- 
fort of thy intercession upon us. — Thou, who 
didst suffer, the just for the unjust, bring us 
nigh to God, in the experience of our souls, 
that we may live as in his presence, and walk 
in the light of thy countenance. Let heavenly 
grace, peace and love descend upon us, sub- 



118 SECOND WEEK. 

duing every earthly and sensual temper in us, 
and sanctifying us in spirit, soul and body. 
Grant that it may manifest to us, that we are 
beloved of God the Father, redeemed of God 
the Son, by being sanctified by God the Holy 
Spirit. May all our dear relations be parta- 
kers of the rich mercies of God in Christ 
Jesus. May all our friends be blessed, and 
all our enemies be forgiven by thee, Lord. 
Crown all the labours of thy ministers with 
abundant success* Give to all thy people in- 
crease of grace, to hear meekly thy word, to 
receive it with pure affection, and to bring 
forth the fruits of the Spirit. — Grant, thou 
blessed Immanuel, that the savour of thy pre- 
cious name may be spread, and thy glorious 
salvation known more and more in the hearts 
of poor perishing sinners. Be thou all our 
salvation, and all our desire, that each of us 
may say in faith and truth, " I will praise thee, 
Lord; though thou wast angry with me, yet 
thine anger is turned away, and thou dost com- 
fort me." O that " with joy we may this day 
draw water out of the wells of salvation," to 
the glory of the holy and ever-blessed Trinity. 
Thou great Captain of our salvation, who hast 
fought all our battles, and gained a complete 
victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil, 



THURSDAY EVENING. 119 

for us, subdue all our and thine enemies in 
us. Make us strong in thee, and in the power 
of thy might, to strive against sin, resist Satan, 
and overcome the world. Let us never lay 
down our arms but with our life. Arm us this 
day with the shield of faith, the helmet of sal- 
vation, the sword of the Spirit, and the grace 
of prayer. Lord, enable us to fight the good 
fight of faith, ever to embrace and hold fast 
the blessed hope of eternal life that thou hast 
given us in the scriptures, and that is pos- 
SQvSsed in the heart, through faith in Jesus 
Christ; to whom with the Father and Holy 
Ghost be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 



THURSDAY EVENING. 

Lord, who art a sun and a shield, 
enlighten and defend us. Grace and glory are 
tliy free gifts; bestow them upon us. Cause 
us to walk uprightly before thee. Son of 
God, who hast in these last days come and 
spoken unto us in thy word, speak to our 
hearts by the power of thy Spirit. Speak 
light and conviction into our souls. Forbid that 
we should love darkness rather than light, 
because our deeds are evil. Thou art the 



120 SECOND WEEK. 

light of the world, and the life of men. May 
we come unto thee, and make it manifest that 
the true light hath shined in our hearts, and 
that we are the children of the light and of the 
day. Suffer us not to walk in the darkness of 
sin, ignorance and error. Deliver us from an 
evil heart of unbelief, which departs from thee 
the living God, bids defiance to thy awful 
threatenings, sets at naught thy precious prom- 
ises ; is regardless of the concerns of our im- 
mortal souls, and causes sinners to live after 
the course of this present evil world, till death 
unthought of, judgment unprepared for, and 
destruction unexpected, overtake them. O 
may we know thy great salvation, feel our 
want of it, and be most deeply concerned to 
obtain the knowledge of our interest in the love 
and the grace of the Lamb of God. Thou, 
and only thou, takest away the sin of the world. 
O Saviour, take away our sins, clothe our 
naked souls with thy righteousness, sanctify 
our polluted souls by thy Spirit, and unite our 
hearts to love thy precious name, and to 
rejoice in thy everlasting salvation. 

Gracious Lord, thy word assures us "there 
is no condemnation to them who are in Christ 
Jesus; that all who believe in thee are justified 
from all things; that they are passed from 



THURSDAY EVENING, 121 

death unto life." O, for thy mercy's sake, 
bring our souls into this happy state* Grant 
that we may experience the joys of thy people, 
and the felicity of thy chosen. Quicken our 
souls to press forward, and to give all diligence 
to obtain those blessings which thou hast 
promised to them who seek thee. As the 
shadows of the evening are come upon us, — 
as the darkness of the night is spreading 
over us, so make us remember that the night 
of death will soon succeed the day of life, and 
that our sun will soon set. Lord Jesus, give 
us such hunger and thirst of soul after thee, 
that we may not rest till we know that thou 
art our resurrection and our life, that we may 
meet death with composure, yea, with joy, as 
a messenger of peace. 

Dear Lord, thou hast encouraged poor sin- 
ners to pray for the Holy Spirit; and hast 
assured us, thy Father will give the Holy 
Spirit to them who ask him: O that we may 
now ask in the faith of thy word, nothing 
doubting. Lord, hear us. Send down the 
grace and blessmg of thy Spirit upon us, that 
we may be a people formed for thy glory, that 
by our walk and conversation we may show 
that we have been with Jesus, — are partakers 
of the Divine nature, — that all our unruljr 
16 



122 SECOND WEEK. 

lusts and unholy tempers are thereby mortified 
and subdued, — and that we may discharge 
every social, moral and relative duty, agreeably 
to thy holy word. Bless and keep us through 
the evils and dangers of this night. Preserve 
us from devouring flames, and from the sons 
of violence. Lord, prepare us by rest for the 
duties of another day. For thy infinite mercy's 
sake in Christ Jesus, fit us for death, prepare us 
for judgment, and make us meet to be partakers 
of the heavenly inheritance with thy saints in 
glory. Bless our rulers. Bless all men. Keep 
and comfort thy people. Make all who are 
dear to us of that happy number. Reward 
our benefactors. Change the hearts of, and 
forgive all our enemies. Now Lord, into thy 
hands we would commit our bodies, souls and 
spirits. Grant us the unspeakable mercy to 
know that thou hast redeemed us, that our 
souls may love thee, and rejoice in thee as our 
Saviour, and say of thee, " Whom have we in 
heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth 
we desire besides thee." In this faith may we 
comfortably live, joyfully die, and be the happy 
partakers of the end of our faith, — the ever- 
lasting salvation of our souls in thy kingdom 
of bliss and glory. Lamb of God hear us. 
Son of God have mercy upon us. O sprinkle 



FRIDAY MORNING. 123 

our hearts from a guilty conscience. Possess 
them with a happy sense of thy pardon, love 
and peace, that we may sleep in the Lord 
this night, and awake in the Lord, to behold 
another day. But, if thou shouldst this night 
require our souls, and take away our life, 
grant that we may die in the Lord, and be 
found in Christ Jesus, — pardoned by his blood, 
justified in his righteousness, sanctified through 
his Spirit, and made meet to be partakers of 
the heavenly inheritance with the saints in 
glory. These mercies we ask in thy name 
and for thy sake, O Christ, who art ever 
worthy, with the Father and the Spirit, to re- 
ceive equal honour and endless praise. Amen. 



FRIDAY MORNING. 

O Almighty God, be thou exalted, in thine 
own strength, and let this be the day of thy 
power, that we may exalt thee, and bring free- 
will offerings of holy worship unto thee. O 
Lord Christ, who didst humble thyself to death, 
even unto the death of the cross, humble us that 
we may exalt thee. " God forbid that we 
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord 
Jesus Christ." May our souls bless thee for 



124 SECOND WEEK. 

that new and living way which thou hast con- 
secrated through the veil of thy flesh, for us 
miserable sinners to draw nigh unto God. Grant 
Lord, that we may now find free access, full 
acceptance, and every needful blessings from 
thee. O merciful High Priest of our profession 
have compassion upon us. We are naturally 
ignorant, and out of the way of life and salva- 
tion ; cause us to return to thee, the great Shep- 
herd and Bishop of souls. Bring us, blind sin- 
ners, by the way we know not; make dark- 
ness light before us, and crooked things straight 
unto us, and never leave nor forsake us, O Lord. 
Where thou hast begun a work of grace 
upon any of us, carry it on with thy power, and 
perfect it to thy glory. Let us all experience 
that thou dost work in us both to will and to do 
of thine own good pleasure. While many are 
saying, " Who will show us any good .^^^ 
''Lord, lift thou up the light of thy counte- 
nance upon us, and give us peace." Lord be 
gracious to us and bless and keep us this day. 
O God, the Father of heaven, who hast de- 
clared of Christ, '' This is my beloved Son,'' 
believe on, and come to him ; grant us, in the 
power of the Spirit, to obey thee. O may 
each of us say of thy beloved Son, He is my 
beloved Saviour, my rfghteousness, peace, and 



FRIDAY MORNING. 125 

joy. O Saviour, grant that our souls may be 
found in thee ; and, by thy grace, may we 
have our conversation in this world. Lord, 
while infidelity, iniquity, and enmity work 
against thee, in the hearts of the children of 
men, let thy grace subdue all these in us. — 
When sin allures, Satan tempts, and corrup- 
tions rage, ''Lord, keep us, or we fall." 
Save us this day from the many evils within us, 
and the temptations around us. Enable us to 
do our duty in the station of life wherein thou 
hast placed us, as servants of the most high 
God ; ever considering ourselves in thy pres- 
ence, and desiring in all things thy glory. In 
obedience to thy command we pray for all men ; 
for the rulers thou hast given us, and for all in 
authority over us, that we may lead quiet lives, 
in all godliness and honesty. Bless all our dear 
relatives with the knowledge of themselves, of 
Christ, and with precious faith in his blessed 
name. Lord, continue the light of thy glorious 
gospel to us. Bless all thy ministers who 
preach it. Add to their number, and increase 
their usefulness, to the awakening the dead in 
sin, comforting the mourners in Zion, giving 
rest to burdened souls, and peace to distressed 
consciences. Accept our praises for all thy 
mercies, temporal and spiritual, known and 



126 SECOND WEEK. 

unknown, vouchsafed unto us. O give us 
thankful hearts. Now, Lord, give us thy peace 
which passeth all knowledge, that we may re- 
joice in thee, and be devoted to thee, this and 
all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 



FRIDAY EVENING. 

Stir up, O Lord God, the desires of our souls 
to seek thy face. Cause us to fall down at thy 
feet, in humility, as miserable sinners, and to 
approach the throne of grace as needy crea- 
tures. O may our souls this night bless thee 
that there is a throne of grace to come unto, 
and a God of grace, in Christ, to call upon. 
Though we have sinned, blessed be God, we 
have an Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous 
and his blood cleanseth from all sin. Holy 
Spirit, if thou hast taught us to know ourselves, 
we must see that we are concluded under sin, 
and our mouths are stopped. We are guilty. 
We have no plea, in and from ourselves, why 
God should hear us, accept, and bless us. 
Nothing but sin, dejection, and despair, arise 
in and from ourselves. But if we know the 
love of Christ, as revealed in the word of 



FRIDAY EVENING. 127 

truth, we have all reason for hope and encour- 
agement to come unto thee, and to expect the 
richest blessings from thee. Glory be to thee, 
O Lord, there is in Christ perfect righteous- 
ness, for miserable sinners, perfect justification, 
for condemned sinners, perfect cleansing, for 
guilty sinners, perfect holiness, for unholy sin- 
ners, perfect redemption, for captive sinners, a 
perfectly-finished salvation, for lost and per- 
ishing sinners ; yea, all perfection of blessed- 
ness for cursed sinners. Oh what amazing 
mercy, wonderful love, and astonishing grace 
is this ! Lord, grant that our hearts may re- 
ceive this grace in the love of it, that our souls, 
may love, and rejoice in thee this night for it. 
O Lord, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, 
it is our bounden duty, our reasonable service, 
grant us to see it our inestimable privilege, to 
present ourselves before thee, pray unto thee, 
and give thee the praises due unto thy name. 
Grant us the grace of prayer in our hearts, 
while we use the words of prayer with our 
lips. Give us the spirit of praise, while we 
utter the words of praise. May our persons 
be accepted in Christ, and our services be pre- 
sented upon the altar of his sacrifice, and be 
perfumed with his fragrant incense, that they 
may be acceptable in thy sight, O God. Thanks 



128 SECOND WEEK. 

be to thee, O Lord, for that precious word, 
" All things whatsoever ye ask in prayer, be- 
lieving, ye shall receive." Give and strengthen 
faith to plead thy promise before thee. O 
grant us so to ask, that we may receive bless- 
ings from thee; so to knock, that the door of 
mercy, grace, and peace may be opened to our 
souls ; so to seek, that we may find Christ in us 
the hope of glory, God reconciled to us in 
Christ, pardoning our sins, and shedding thy 
love abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost. 

Lord, impress our minds with a sense of the 
exceeding sinfulness of sin, and of thy terrible 
judgments denounced against impenitent, unbe- 
lieving sinners. Affect our souls with thy love 
in giving thy beloved Son to be the Saviour of 
miserable sinners. O grant that we may flee 
from sin as from the face of a serpent, and flee 
to Jesus as a sure refuge from the floods of 
wrath, which shall be poured upon an ungodly 
world ; and save us from the guilt and power 
of sin, from the curse and wrath due to sin, 
and at last from the very being of sin. Lord, 
save us in the hour of death, and in the day of 
judgment. O guide us through life by thy 
holy counsel, and after death bring us to thy 
eternal glory. 

Father of all our mercies, we bless and 



FRIDAY EVENING. 129 

praise thee for thy care over us, and all thy 
goodness to us the day past. Be with us, and 
bless us through this night. We know not 
what events may await us. Before the morn- 
ing light, thou mayest say to each of us, ^' This 
night thy soul is required of thee." If so, 
Lord, grant that we may be found in Christ, 
" having our loins girded about, our lights 
burning, and we ourselves waiting for the 
Lord." 

Show mercy, O Lord, to this sinful nation. 
Stop the spread of infidelity, the growth of 
error, and the abounding of iniquity. O pour 
down a spirit of reformation upon us. Let thy 
gospel run and be glorified. Cause thy truth 
to be known upon earth, and thy saving health 
among all nations. May our rulers live before 
thee, and be ministers of God for good to us. 
Bless all thy people with more grace, out of 
thy fulness. Grant that our souls may live 
upon thee, rejoice in thee, and be comforted 
by thee. Hear us, O God, pardon, accept, 
and bless us, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. 



17 



130 SECOND WEEK. 

SATURDAY MORNING. 

O HOLY, blessed, and glorious Trinity, three 
persons and one God, have mercy upon us, 
miserable sinners. O thou Sun of righteous- 
ness, arise this morning upon us, with healing 
under thy beams, that our souls, wounded by 
sin, may experience thy health and salvation. 
Grant us penitent hearts, and contrite spirits. 
Restore us to thy favour, according to thy 
promises made in Christ Jesus. Grant for his 
sake, that we may live a godly, righteous, and 
sober life, all our days, to the glory of thy 
holy name. 

Lord, pity our ignorance. Open our blind 
eyes. '^ Thy loving-kindness, O Saviour, is 
better than life itself :" cause our hearts to ex- 
perience this. Thou hast assured us, except 
we are born again of the Spirit, we cannot see, 
we cannot enter into thy kingdom. Grant us 
this spiritual birth, that we may see the glory 
of Christ, the blessedness of his kingdom, and 
possess righteousness, peace, and joy in the 
Holy Ghost, through faith. Lord, the sub- 
jects of thy heavenly kingdom in glory were 
once miserable sinners on this earth, as we are 
now. 

What has grace done for them ! They 



SATURDAY MORNING. 131 

were saved by thy everlasting love, O God the 
Father ; by thy grace, O God the Son ; and 
by thy power O God the Holy Spirit. 
Lord, thy love to poor sinners is the same 
yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Thy power 
is ahiiighty : thy mercies in Christ Jesus endure 
for ever. Pardon our sins, justify our persons, 
sanctify our souls, giving peace to our con- 
sciences, and making us meet to be partakers 
with the saints in light and glory. Quicken 
us from day to day to cry unto thee. Let our 
prayers arise from the convictions of our hearts 
that we are miserable sinners, that time is short, 
death is near, an awful judgment-day at hand, 
a never-ending eternity before us, and that 
there is no salvation but in the Son of God. 
Lord, keep us in our going out and coming in 
this day. Bless us in our worldly concerns. In 
the ditferent stations of life wherein thou hast 
placed us, enable us to possess resignation, 
thankfulness of heart, and devotedness of soul 
to God. Let the word of Christ dwell in us 
richly, in all wisdom. Let the peace of God 
rule in our hearts ; and grant, that whatsoever 
we do, in word or deed, we may do all in the 
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto 
God and the Father by him. 
Lord, give wisdom to the head, and grace to 



132 SECOND WEEK. 

the heart of the rulers thou hast set over us, 
that they may be a blessing to thy church and 
people. May all in authority over us, fear 
God and work righteousness. Bless all who 
labour in thy word and doctrine. Make them 
wise to win souls to Christ ; give them holy 
zeal for thy truths, loving hearts to precious 
souls, and fervent affections for thy glory. 
Send out thy light and thy truth, to lead poor 
perishing sinners to thee, O Christ, for life and 
salvation. May thy power be known and felt 
in the hearts of all our relations ; may they 
humbly bow to the sceptre of thy grace, joy- 
fully receive salvation as thy free gift, and live 
to thy honour and glory. Bless all our dear 
friends with the blessings of thy covenant love. 
Pardon all our enemies, out of the riches of thy 
grace. Reward the kindness of our benefac- 
tors, out of thine abundant goodness. May thy 
word be our rule and our guide this day. May 
we hear the voice of thy Spirit in it, saying, 
"This is the way, walk therein, and ye shall 
find rest to your souls." O Saviour, be thou 
precious to us, as the way, the truth, and the 
life, that we may live and walk in God's favour 
on earth, and eternally enjoy his presence in 
glory, through thy sacrifice and intercession, O 
Lamb of God. Amen. 



SATURDAY EVENING. 133 

SATURDAY EVENING. 

O Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and 
art to come, impress this solemn sentence on 
each of our minds, " Dust thou art, and unto dust 
shalt thou return." Affect our souls with a deep 
conviction that the end of all things is at hand, 
that we may be sober and watch unto prayer. 
Lord, teach us to number our days, that we 
may apply our hearts unto Christ, who, of God 
is made unto sinners wisdom. Grant us to 
know thy holy scriptures, which are able to 
make us wise unto salvation, through faith 
which is in Christ Jesus. Stir us up to search 
the scriptures daily, because they testify of thee, 
who art the only and the alone Saviour of lost 
sinners. Draw us, and we will run after thee. 
Set our souls at liberty, that we may fix our 
affections upon things which are above, where 
thou sittest at the right hand of God. Blessed 
Lord, be our strengh. Teach our hands to 
war, and our fingers to fight against all our 
spiritual enemies, the world, the flesh, and the 
devil. O fix this solemn question deep in our 
minds, " What shall a man be profited, if he 
gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ; 
or, what shall a man give in exchange for his 
soul ?" O may the care of our souls be the 



1S4 SECOND WEEK. 

chief concern of our lives. May it be our 
daily study, to know thee, the only true God, 
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent ; that so 
we may have eternal life abiding in us. May 
we be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and 
changed into the image of God. Lord renew 
our souls in knowledge, and our hearts in love, 
that our lives may be holy. Give us grace to 
lay aside every weight, and the sin which so 
easily besets us, that we may ran the heavenly 
race, looking unto Jesus. What we know not, 
Lord, teach us. Teach us to know ourselves, 
as we are known of thee. Teach us to know 
that our hearts are deceitful above all things, 
and desperately wicked ; and that out of our 
hearts proceed all the evils and sins of our 
lives. Let this lay us humble as in the dust 
before thee. Let this excite an earnest cry 
unto thee, '' Lord save us, or we perish." If 
any before thee do not see how deplorably cor- 
rupted, how dreadfully deceitful, how desper- 
ately wicked their hearts are, and are careless 
about the salvation of their precious and im- 
mortal souls, O have pity upon, and show thy 
loving compassion to them. Lord quicken. 
Lord awaken them out of the dead sleep of sin, 
that they may now cry fo thee for salvation, 
and not be left at last to " cry to the rocks and 



SATURDAY EVENING. 135 

mountains. Fall on us, and hide us from the face 
of Him who sitteth on the throne, and from the 
wrath of the Lamb : for the great day of his 
wrath is come, and who shall be able to 
stand ?'' " O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of 
the Father, who takest away the sins of the 
world, have mercy upon us ; thou who takest 
away the sins of the world, receive our prayer; 
thou who sittest at the right hand of God, have 
mercy upon us." Grant us thy protection this 
night. May thy powder defend us from the 
enemies of our souls and bodies; that we may 
rest in safety on our beds, and that by refresh- 
ing sleep our bodies may be fitted for the work 
and service of thee on the approaching sabbath : 
and as we hope to see another sabbath on 
earth, O may our hopes be excited, and our 
hearts be enlivened, with the blessed expecta- 
tion of enjoying thy glorious presence in a sab- 
bath of everlasting rest in glory. To this end, 
Lord, bless all the means of thy grace. May 
Ghrist be preached to our ears by thy minis- 
ters, and to our hearts by thy Spirit, to the 
destruction of our sins, and the salvation of our 
souls. Lord, prepare thy ministers for their 
solemn work. May they come forth to-mor- 
row in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel 
of peace. While they preach Christ and his 
salvation to others, may they feel the love of 



136 SECOND WEEK. 

Christ in their souls. May thy word drop as 

rain, and distil as dew, upon thy people. May 
dead sinners feel its power, and living saints 
find its comfort. May weak hearts be strength- 
ened. '* To those who mourn in Zion, give 
beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, 
and the garment of praise for the spirit of 
heaviness : that thev mav be trees of risfhteous- 
ness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be 
glorified.'' Bless and keep all who are near 
and dear to us this nidat ; and mav thev know 
the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. 
May our worst enemies find the best blessings 
from thee. Lord, hear us; answer, own, 
and accept us, in thy beloved Son Jesus 
Christ ; to whom, with thee, and the Holy 
Ghost, be everlasting glory and endless praises. 
Amen. 



CONCLUDING PRAYER, 

Which may he used after any of the former. 

O Lord, let thy peace, which passeth all un- 
derstanding, keep our hearts and minds in the 
knowledge and love of Thee, and of thy Soa 
Jesus Christ our Lord ; and may thy blessing, 
O God Almighty, — Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, — be upon us, and remain with us, now 
and ever. Amen. 



THIRD WEEK. 



SUNDAY MORNING. 

Through the riches of the mercy, and by 
the power of thy sustaining goodness, we are 
brought in safety to see the light of another 
day, even the light of a new Lord's day, the 
best of days, the type of that glorious rest 
which remaineth for the people of God. Lord, 
send forth thy Holy Spirit into our hearts, and 
make thy sabbath a sabbath-day indeed to 
each of us ; a day of spiritual improvement, 
heavenly consolation, and near communion with 
thee. O satisfy us with thy mercy, and that 
right soon ; so shall we rejoice and be glad all 
the days of our lives. Lift up the light of thy 
countenance upon us at this time ; bless to us 
all the means of grace, whether public or 
private, in the use of which we wait for thy 
salvation. O let them not be as wells without 
water, but make them channels of Divine in- 
fluence, and effectual to the end for which thou 
18 



138 THIRD WEEK. 

hast appointed them. We desire to begin the 
Lord's day with the Lord, and to hallow it by 
the word of God and by prayer. Enable us, 
O thou Father of mercies, to keep it holy unto 
thee, and to enjoy saving communion with thee, 
for the sake of Jesus Christ. 

We thank thee, gracious God, for the return 
of the morning light, and for causing the day- 
spring to know its time and place. O may the 
day-star from on high visit our benighted souls ; 
and may that Saviour, who is the bright and 
morning-star, arise and shine within us with 
healing in his wings. Glory be to thy good- 
ness, that the light we see is the Lord's ; that 
this is the day which thou hast made for thy- 
self, and set apart for thy name. May this sab- 
bath-day be a high day to our souls ; a day of 
spiritual feasting and heavenly joy ; bring us, O 
blessed Spirit, into thy banqueting-house, and 
let thy banner over us be love. Blessed be thy 
name, that we see so many of the days of the 
Son of man ; that w^e enjoy so many precious 
opportunities of worshipping thee in the beauty 
of holiness, and of paying our vows unto thee 
publicly, in the presence of thy people. May 
we be in the Spirit on the Lord's day; and call 
the sabbath a delight, holy of the Lord and 
honourable. May we cease from our own 



SUNDAY MORKlNa. 139 

works, as God on the seventh day ceased from 
his; and abound only in the work of the Lord. 
Especially make it to us a sabbath of rest from 
sin, and a sabbath of rest in God. We are, in- 
deed, utterly unworthy of the honour, and una- 
ble for the work of a fellowship with the 
Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ; but we 
come unto thee, O blessed Lamb of God, in thy 
own adorable name, who alone art worthy; 
and depend on the strength and supply of thy 
good Spirit, to work all our works in us, and 
to ordain peace for us. Bless all thy minister- 
ing servants throughout the whole world ; may 
they obtain mercy of the Lord to be faithful, 
faithful to thee, faithful to truth, and faithful to 
the souls intrusted to their care. Particularly 
vouchsafe to be with all those who are this day 
to stand up in thy name, and preach the gospel 
of thy grace. May they be mighty through 
thee, to convince the unconvinced, to convert 
the unconverted, to heal them that are of a con- 
trite heart, and to build up believers in their 
most holy faith. Enable them to preach thy 
truths with power, and with the Holy Ghost 
sent down from heaven ; thou thyself gracious- 
ly working with them, and confirming the w^ork 
with signs following. Be in the midst of all 
thy worshipping people, who shall assemble in 



140 THIRD WEEK. 

thy name to-day. Have mercy on those who 
shall be unwillinsflv detained from thv house 
by sickness, or any other providential impedi- 
ment ; comfort them in secret, sanctify their 
absence by granting them much of thy inward 
presence. Let them that tarry at home, divide 
the spoil; and, as they are excluded from the 
stream, give them to drink the deeper at the 
fountain head. Lord, assist us, thy unworthy 
servants, in the reli2:ious services of this dav. 
Make us joyful in thy house of prayer; when 
we wait upon thee for a renewal of our 
strength, may we find our strength indeed re- 
newed ; may we inwardly experience the grace 
of the means, while we attend on the means of 
grace ; and enjoy a saving intercourse with the 
God of ordinances, in frequenting the ordi- 
nances of God. Vouchsafe to take us and ours 
into thy gracious protection. Bless and pre- 
serve us in our going out and coming in. Sup- 
port and strengthen, direct and guard us ; par- 
don our innumerable sins, and the depravity of 
our nature, and the offences of our lives ; and 
sanctify us to thyself a peculiar people, zealous 
of good works, and seal us thine in body, soul, 
and spirit, to the day of the Lord Jesus. This 
day, gracious Lord, keep us in thy fear, let us 
not find our own pleasure, nor do our own 



SUNDAY EVENING. 141 

ways, nor speak our own words ; but live en- 
tirely to thee, converse with thee, know more 
of thee, and grow up into a greater fitness for 
thy kingdom and glory. All we beg, O gra- 
cious Father, is for thy mercy's sake, in Jesus 
Christ our Saviour : for whom we bless thee, 
and to whom, with thyself and the Holy Ghost, 
we desire to ascribe all might, majesty and 
praise, for ever and ever. 

The Lord bless us and keep us, the Lord 
make his face to shine upon us, and be gracious 
to us, and give us peace, this day and ever 
more. Amen. 



SUNDAY EVENING. 

Receive us graciously, O thou God of all 
mercy, though we be not cleansed according to 
the purification of the sanctuary ;.we trust we 
can say, that our whole dependence is fixed on 
that ever blessed Mediator between God and 
man, in whom thou hast declared thyself well 
pleased. Vouchsafe to clothe us with his 
righteousness, and to sprinkle both our hearts 
and our performances with his precious blood. 
Smile upon us, and be gracious to us, in this 
our private audience ; may our petitions be re- 



142 THIRD WEEK. 

ceived with favour at the throne of grace, and 
may an answer of peace be sealed in our hearts. 
In this, and all other of our doings, may we be 
enabled to look unto thee for a blessing, and to 
receive the blessing at thy hand, through Jesus 
Christ our Saviour. 

O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall 
all flesh come. Thou art the Lord, by whom 
we escape death, and enjoy all things pertain- 
ing to life and godliness. Thine we are, and 
thee we ought to serve. Thou hast holden us 
up ever since we were born ; may our prais 
be always of thee. We thank thee for thy 
care over us, and thy favour towards us this 
day, both in a way of providence and in a way 
of grace. Less than the least of all thy mer- 
cies, we are continually favoured with the 
greatest: we who deserve justly to be forsaken 
of thee, and to be cast out of the sight of thine 
eyes, are yet spared hitherto, to be monuments 
of thy goodness and of that love which passeth 
knowledge. Heavenly Father, impress our 
hearts with a lively and lasting sense of what 
thou hast done for us ; and do thou crown all 
by working in us that which is well pleasing 
in thy sight. Give us unfeigned repentance 
toward God, and saving faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Sprinkle us with his precious blood 



SUNDAY EVENING. 143 

from all the guilt of our sins, both original and 
actual ; clothe us with his righteousness unto 
justification ; and grant us that sanctification of 
thy Spirit, without which no man can see the 
Lord. We desire to be humbled in thy glo- 
rious presence for the sins of this day ; for the 
iniquity of our holy things ; for our short-com- 
ing, and our mis-doings. Surely all our per- 
sonal righteousness is as filthy rags in the eyes 
of thine infinite holiness; and our best perform- 
ances, if brought to the test of thy law, would 
but add to our condemnation, and increase our 
punishment. But thou art a God gracious and 
merciful, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiv- 
ing iniquity, transgression, and sin, through the 
ransom thou hast found, and the Lamb w^hich 
thou hast provided for a burnt-offering. Give 
us to see that our guilt w^as transferred to him ; 
that his obedience is imputed to us ; and that 
we are, through grace, interested in all the 
blessings of the everlasting covenant. To the 
care and protection of thy almighty providence 
would we humbly commend ourselves this 
night. Take charge of us and ours, O thou 
Keeper of Israel, who never slumberest . nor 
sleepest; watch over us for good. When we 
sleep, let our hearts wake and our souls lie 
open to the influence of thy blessed Spirit ; 



144 THIRD WEEK. 

keep us without sin, by the power of thy grace. 

If we have received any spiritual improvement 

to-day, Lord grant that it may abide with us 

and increase with us ever more and more. Let 

it not be as the morning dew, that quickly 

passes away ; but fasten thy word upon our 

hearts, as a nail in a sure place. Cherish every 

motion of thy good Spirit ; begin the work of 

grace where it is not yet begun; and carry it 

on with power, where it is. May our penitence 

be deep and lasting ; may our faith be strong, 

lively and fervent; and build us up into lively 

habitations of thee the living God. Sanctify 

and seal us thine, in body, soul, and spirit. 

Sprinkle, according to thy own most gracious 

promise, clean water upon us, that we may be 

clean ; from all our filthiness, and from all our 

idols, do thou cleanse us ; a new heart also do 

thou give unto us, and a new sprit do thou put 

within us ; take, O take away the stony heart 

out of our flesh, and give us hearts of flesh : put 

thy Spirit within us, and cause us to walk in 

thy statutes, and to keep thy judgments and do 

them. May we, from principles of faith in 

thee, and love to thee, be careful to maintain 

good works; and go on from strength to 

strength, until we are called to appear before 

the Lord our God in Sion, there to celebrate 



MONDAY MORNING. 145 

that never ending sabbath, which angels and 
archangels, with the spirits of just men made 
perfect, are now enjoying before the throne. 
With them may we see thee as thou art: with 
them, may we cast our crowns before thee, and 
sing the praises of the Father who loved us, of 
the Son who washed us from our sins in his 
own blood, and of the eternal Spirit who sanc- 
tified us by his grace, and preserved us to the 
day of Christ. Whatever we ask, we ask it at 
thy hand, for the merits' sake of thy dear Son, 
our Lord and Saviour. Amen, 



MONDAY MORNING. 

Open our eyes, O Lord, that we may dis- 
cern the wonders of thy law ; and make us to 
find that it is good for us to draw nigh unto 
thee, and to wait upon thee, in and through the 
name and merits of Jesus Christ, our only 
Mediator and Advocate. 

Gracious and glorious Lord, the eyes of all 
wait upon thee ; thou art the hope of all the 
ends of the earth. In thee we live and move, 
and have our being : thou givest us life, and 
breath, and all things. Still thou takest care 
of us and watchest over us; even in the hours 
19 



146 THIRD WEEK. 

of sleep, when we are unable to care for our- 
selves. And thy mercies are daily renewed ; 
thy goodness is repeated every morning : yea, 
every moment, dost thou give us fresh occasion 
of praise and thanksgiving. Blessed be thy 
name for the peace, rest, and safety of the 
night past. Enable us in the strength of thy 
grace and of thy gifts, to love thee truly, to 
serve thee faithfully, and to depend on thee 
without wavering. In all our ways may we 
acknowledge thee; and be thou graciously 
pleased to establish our goings, and to direct 
our path. We desire to put ourselves under 
thy gracious conduct and thy fatherly protec- 
tion. We beg the heavenly guidance, blessing, 
and assistance of thy good Spirit, to choose 
our inheritance for us, and to dispose of us, 
and all that concerns us, to the glory of thy 
great name. O Lord withdraw not thy tender 
mercies from us, neither shut up thy loving- 
kindness in displeasure. Though we deserve 
to lose thy favour and presence, yet grant us 
the comfort of thy help, the joy of thy salva- 
tion. Punish not our past offences, by leaving 
us to ourselves, and giving us up to the 
dominion of our sins; but give us penitent 
hearts for all the evil committed by us, and thy 
merciful discharge from all the guilt that lies 



MONDAY MORNING. 147 

upon us. And grant us, Lord, the comforta- 
ble sense and apprehension of thy free accep- 
tance of us, and of thy gracious intentions 
towards us, in the Son of thy love, that our 
hearts may bless thy holy name. — Lord keep 
us from sin this day. Subdue, as well as par- 
don our iniquities : and herein may we exercise 
ourselves, to have always a conscience void of 
offence, both towards God and towards man. 
Whilst upon earth, grant us a due supply of 
all things needful for us in the house of our 
pilgrimage. Sanctify to us our enjoyments and 
our employments, our comforts and our crosses, 
every condition we are to be in, and every 
event that shall befall us. Enable us to live to 
thy honour and glory ; and make us so to pass 
through things temporal, as neither to lose nor 
forget the things eternal. If thou enlighten us 
not, we shall run into error; if thou prevent 
not, w^e shall relapse into sin ; if thou preserve 
us not, we shall fall into dangers. let thy 
good providence be our defence and security ; 
and thy Holy Spirit be our comforter, guide, 
and counsellor in all our ways; until, through 
the merit of thy Son, and the multitude of thy 
mercies, we are called away, to be for ever 
with the Lord. Amen. 



148 



THIRD WEEK. 



MONDAY EVENING. 

Teach us, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, 
and make us keep it unto the end. Incline our 
hearts to thy testimonies, and cause us to go 
in the path of thy commandments, for therein 
is our desire. May the law of thy mouth be 
dearer unto us than thousands of gold and 
silver ; and let thy Holy Spirit accompany thy 
word with saving power to our souls, through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Infinitely great and infinitely gracious God, 
thy glory exceeds our utmost thoughts, and thy 
mercies are over all thy works. We, thy sin- 
ful creatures, have particular reason to admire 
and adore, not only thy patience which bears 
with us notwithstanding all that we have done 
against thee, but likewise thy never ceasing 
bounty, by which our comforts are continued, 
and our wants supplied. We desire to ap- 
proach thee as our kind and merciful Father 
in Jesus Christ: humbly beseeching thee to 
wash away our sins in his most precious blood, 
and to give us a sufficient measure of thy grace 
and Holy Spirit to enable us to overcome 
them. Thou didst create man, O Lord, after 
thy own blessed image; but we have destroyed 
ourselves and come short of thy glory ; the 



MONDAY EVENING. 149 

crown is fallen from our heads ; we are sinners 
both by nature and by practice : justly mightest 
thou swear in thy wrath, that we shall not enter 
into thy rest. Yet suffer us and enable us to 
plead in faith, thy gracious promise, that who- 
soever trusteth in the Saviour and cometh unto 
thee by him, shall never perish, nor fall into 
condemnation, but have everlasting life for his 
sake. Lord we would believe ; O help our un- 
belief! and work in us unfeigned repentance to- 
w^ards God, and right faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that we may be of the number that 
repent and believe to the saving of the soul. 
Save us, O good Lord, from our sinful selves; 
from love of the world, and from every thing 
that opposes thy grace, and tends to hurt our 
souls. Stablish us in thy love ; strengthen us 
to perform thy will; and settle our faith on 
Christ, the rock of ages. To thy mercy in 
him we would humbly commit ourselves this 
night. Be our sun to enlighten us, be our 
shield to defend us. Grant us, rest of body, 
and peace of mind. Let the voice of joy, 
health, and safety, be heard in our dwelling: 
make our walls salvation, and our gates praise. 
Comfort all who want the comforts we enjoy ; 
and grant suitable supplies of mercy, both 
spiritual and temporal, to the afflicted, where- 



150 THIRD WEEK. 

soever they are, and howsoever tried. Re- 
member, with the favour that thou bearest to 
thy people, all our absent friends and relations : 
be thou a friend to them, and may they stand 
in a covenant relation to thee. Make them 
and us such as thou wouldst have us to be, and 
such as thou wilt receive in Christ Jesus, here 
to thy gracious favour, and hereafter to thy 
glorious kingdom. Hear us, O God in behalf 
of ourselves and others ; hear others, in behalf 
of themselves and us ; and convert those who 
pray neither for others nor themselves. Above 
all, hear the Son of thy love, who intercedes, 
we trust, for us, at thy right hand. For him, 
and to him, with thyself, and the blessed 
Spirit, enable us to ascribe everlasting praise 
and glory. Amen. 



TUESDAY MORNING. 

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are 
open, all desires known, and from whom no 
secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our 
hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, 
that we may perfectly love thee, worthily 
magnify thy holy name, and offer thee a sacri- 



TUESDAY MORNING. 151 

fice in righteousness, acceptable to thy glorious 
Majesty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Blessed Lord, thine we are, and thee we 
ought to serve. Thy law, and the endear- 
ments of thy love, render it our duty to rest in 
thy covenant, and to abound in the work of 
the Lord. But, we are unprofitable servants, 
^nd worse than unprofitable; for we have 
drank in iniquity like water, our provocations 
against thee are increased, and our trespasses 
are grown up into the heavens. We have 
lived to ourselves, instead of living unto Him 
who died for us and rose again ; we have not, 
as we should, glorified thee in our bodies and 
in our spirits, which are thine. And since it 
is not in man to recover and save himself, O 
enable us to look upon thee, in whom alone our 
help lies. We thank thee for laying help upon 
One that is mighty ; for committing thy peo- 
ple, and the work of their salvation, to the 
hands of him who hath finished transgression, 
made reconciliation for them that believe, and 
wrought out and brought in an everlasting 
righteousness for their justification. In his 
name we come to thy throne of grace, hoping 
to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every 
time of need : for his sake we humbly entreat 
thy favour, and the light of thy countenance, 



152 THIRD WEEK. 

Lord, enable us to walk as become those upon 
whom thy name is called. May we be fol- 
lowers of Christ, as dear children, and adorn 
the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. 
O may our hearts love the Lord our God ; and 
may thy almighty Spirit so write the law of 
holiness upon our minds, that it may be our 
meat and our drink to do thy will ; that we may 
hate all iniquity, and every false way; and 
resemble the blessed Jesus as our pattern, 
while we trust in his merits as our propitiation. 
Lord, make our service acceptable to thee 
while we live, and our souls ready for thee 
when we die. As long as we are in the world, 
keep us from the evil of it, and from the snares 
and dangers to which w^e are continually ex- 
posed in our passage through it. O make our 
pilgrimage safe and sure through all the trou- 
bles, changes, and temptations of this mortal 
life, to the unchangeable glories of the life ev- 
erlasting. Be merciful to us this day. Keep 
us in all our ways, bless all our lawful under- 
takings, and grant that we may take nothing in 
hand but what is warranted by thy word, and 
agreeable to thy will. Set thy fear before our 
eyes all the day long ; and put thy love into our 
hearts, that we may not depart from thee. 
Bless and preserve us in our going out and 



TUESDAY EVENING. 153 

coming in. May the Angel of thy presence 
save us from all sin and danger. Hear and 
answer us, O Lord, for the sake of him who 
hath loved and redeemed us, even the Lord our 
righteousness, to whom be ascribed the king- 
dom, and power, and glory. 

The blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit, be with us, and all that be- 
long to us, this day, and evermore. Amen. 



TUESDAY EVENING. 

O Lord, thou art good unto them that wait 
for thee, and to the soul that seeketh thee. We 
desire, at this time, to w^ait for thee, and to 
seek thee in the way of thy appointment. 
Give us a token for good, and an answer of 
peace, while we draw near unto thee in the 
name of Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and 
Redeemer. 

How excellent is thy mercy, O God ! and 
what encouragement dost thou give us to put our 
trust under the shadow of thy wings ! Thou 
art the bountiful giver of the good that our 
souls desire, and the merciful withholder of the 
evil that our sins deserve. From thee comes 
all our help ; in thee make us repose all our 
20 



154 THIRD WEEK. 

hope. We acknowledge thy great and daily 
goodness to us ; and our own unworthiness of 
the least of all thy mercies. We desire to 
take shanne and confusion to ourselves, that we 
have SQ little improved, and so greatly abused, 
thy patience with us, and the various instances 
of thy bounty towards us. Thy very mercies 
help to aggravate our offences; because we 
have done so much against thee, after all thou 
hast done, and art continually doing for us. 
We would, O Lord, be humbled for our sins, 
and entreat thy gracious favour in Jesus Christ. 
Forgive us for his sake all the evilof which 
we stand guilty before thee ; and being justi- 
fied by faith, grant us peace with God, through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. And as we pray that 
thou wilt be to us a Father of mercies and a 
God of consolation, so also that thou wouldst 
make us followers of thee as dear children. 
Work in us, by thy Holy Spirit, that which is 
well pleasing in thy sight. Lord, thou know- 
est our weakness, and the temptations to which 
we are exposed ; our danger from the enemy 
of souls, and from the present world, and 
above all, from the enemy within our vile flesh 
and deceitful hearts, so apt to betray us into 
sin. We pray, therefore, that thou wilt arm 
us with the whole armour of God, and uphold 



TUESDAY EVENING. 155 

US with thy free Spirit, and watch over us for 
good evermore. O make us experience the 
aids of thy heavenly grace, that we may never 
fall a prey to the spiritual adversary who seeks 
to devour us. And seeing thou art yet pleased 
to hold our souls in life, and to make us find 
and feel by every day's experience, how gra- 
cious and merciful thou art, give us hearts 
more sensible of thy love to us ; more devoted 
to thee, and more thankful for the blessings 
which thou art pleased to multiply upon us. 
Cause us to show fortli thy praise, not only by 
speaking good of thy name but by ordering 
our conversation as becomes the gospel of 
Christ. To thy mercy in him do we humbly 
commend ourselves and ours this night ; be- 
seeching thee to visit us with thy salvation, and 
to preserve us in soul and body, from all evils 
and dangers to which the weakness of our 
frame, and the greatness of our sins, expose us. 
May our repose be holy, safe, and refreshing, 
that we may rise better fitted and enabled to 
serve thee according to thy will, in the duties 
of the following day^, if it should be thy plea- 
sure to make addition of another day to our 
lives. And as thou addest days and mercies, 
add repentance and amendment to our days ; 
that, in proportion as we draw nearer to the 



156 THIRD WEEK. 

grave, our souls may grow fitter for heaven. 
And for all the good things that we have had, 
and still have, and yet hope for at tliy hands, 
to thy adorable name be all the praise, O 
Father, Son, and Spirit, world without end. 
Amen. 



WEDNESDAY MORNING. 

Unto thee do we lift up our eyes^ O thou 
that dwellest in the heavens. Have respect, 
we humbly beseech thee, both to us and to our 
offerings, for the sake of Him who offered up 
himself for our offences, and rose again for our 
justification. Meet us with a blessing, who de- 
sire to meet thee in prayer ; and make thy 
throne a throne of grace to us, through Jesus 
Christ our Saviour. 

Lord God, bountiful and gracious, long-suf- 
fering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 
thou keepest mercy for thousands, thou par- 
donest iniquity, transgression, and sin, because 
thou delightest in mercy. Look not upon the 
sin of our nature ; nor the sins of our hearts and 
lives, which are more than we can number, and 
greater than we can express. O sprinkle us 
from an evil conscience, by the blessed Re- 



WEDNESDAY MORNING. 157 

deemer's blood, which cleanseth from all sin. 
Grant us out of his fulness, grace sufficient for 
us ; grace to pardon our sins, and subdue our 
iniquities; to justify our persons, and to sanc- 
tify our souls. Begin and advance in us that 
saving change of heart, which may, by the 
power of thy Spirit, more and more transform 
us into thy blessed image, and make us meet to 
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in 
light. And now that we are entered upon ano- 
ther day, we beseech thee to carry us through 
it in thy fear and favour. Order all our steps 
and let no wickedness have dominion over us. 
Teach us to use the world without abusing it; 
and may that portion of it which thou hast, and 
shalt assign us, be sanctified to us by the word 
of God, and by prayer ; and by the right em- 
ployment and improvement of it to thy glory. 
Whatever we are as to outward circumstances, 
O leave us not destitute of the things that ac- 
company salvation : but satisfy us with the 
sense of thy favour, and adorn us with the 
graces of thy Holy Spirit. Blessed be thy 
rich goodness, which hast renewed our lives 
and thy mercies to us this morning. Lord, 
grant that all our comforts may flow to us in 
the channel of covenant love ; and revert to the 
praise and glory of the gracious Giver. Be 



158 THIRD WEEK. 

with, protect, and bless us, in our going out 
and coming in. May the Angel of thy presence 
save us, and the God of angels be our shield 
and exceeding great reward. Make us desire, 
resolve, and endeavour to live in the obedience 
of thy holy will, and to the honour of thy 
blessed name. O restrain us from the evils and 
follies into which we are prone to fall ; and 
quicken us to the offices and duties we ought to 
perform. Grant that we may think and speak, 
will and do, the things that are well-pleasing in 
thy sight; and have the strong consolation of 
acceptance with thee. So visit us with thy 
salvation, sanctify us by thy grace, and so 
carry us through life, that thy name may have 
the praise, and our souls the comfort, in the 
hour of death, and in the ^reat dav of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Amen. 



WEDXESDAY EVENING. 

Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings, with 
thy most gracious favour, and further us with 
thy continual help: that in this, and all our 
works begun, continued, and ended in thee, 
we may glorify thy holy name ; offer thee ac- 
ceptable service; and finally, by thy mercy, 



WEDNESDAY EVENING. 159 

obtain everlasting life, through Jesus Christ 
our Saviour. 

Enable us, gracious God, to desire thee, as 
our chief good; and to come to thee, as our 
merciful Father, in the Son of thy love. In his 
great name and prevailing mediation alone, it is 
that we, who have multiplied our offences 
against thee, are encouraged to present our per- 
sons and our prayers before thee. We are ut- 
terly unworthy to approach thy foot-stool, and 
to enjoy the privilege of intercourse with thee. 
We durst not appear in the presence of thy 
holy glorious Majesty in our own names, or 
trusting in our own sinful righteousness ; our 
guilt is so great, and our iniquities so grievous, 
that we might justly be ashamed to come before 
thy face, and tremble for fear of thy judgments. 
We would therefore fly for refuge to the merits 
of Him, who, we trust, has fully satisfied thy 
justice for our sins, and is now interceding at 
thy right hand for our souls : whom thou de- 
lightest to honour, in sparing, accepting, and 
saving poor unworthy sinners upon his account. 
Deliver us, most gracious Lord, for his sake, 
from all those transgressions for which our 
hearts condemn us ; and from all of which thou, 
who art greater than our hearts, knowest us to 
be guilty ; and seal to us a full pardon in his 



160 THIRD WEEK. 

most precious blood, which speaketh better 
things on our behalf than we are able to do for 
ourselves in all our prayers. And may the time 
past of our lives suffice to have lived to our- 
selves, and to have served our own corrupt 
wills. O put an end to- all our presumptuous 
and treacherous dealings with thy heavenly all- 
seeing Majesty ; and create in us new and hum- 
ble and contrite hearts, to tremble at thy word 
and presence, and to hate and abandon all our 
foolish and sinful misdoings. Command thy 
blessing and thy saving grace to descend and 
rest upon our souls. Cause us to know the joy- 
ful sound of thy gospel, not only by the hearing 
of the ear, but in heavenly experience. O take 
possession of our hearts, and by the power of 
thy Spirit draw our affections to thy blessed 
self. Grant us union and communion with thee; 
such a sight and sense of sin, and of our lost es- 
tate by nature, as may render Christ and his 
righteousness precious to us; and such com- 
fortable views of our justification through him, 
as may enlarge our hearts with joy, fill our lips 
with praise, and influence us to live unto him 
that died for us and rose again. Lord, guide 
and keep us ; make us wise and faithful in our 
several duties, and blessed and prosperous in 
the event. Sanctify our respective conditions 



THURSDAY MORNING. 161 

to US, and fit us for whatever thou shalt order 
for us. And now, O Lord, we beseech thee 
to accept our evening sacrifice of praise and 
thanksgiving for the mercies of the day past, 
and for thy unwearied goodness, which has fol- 
lowed us all the days of our lives. Go on to 
abound towards us in loving kindness and ten- 
der mercies ; passing by our innumerable sins, 
and supplying our every want. Take charge 
of us to-night. Hide us in thy pavilion, and 
compass us about with songs of deliverance. 
Whether we sleep or wake, keep us safe under 
thy wings, and may our hearts be occupied in 
thy statutes. Bring us, at the appointed season, 
to the heavenly city, where there is no dark- 
ness, but the glory of God doth lighten it, and 
the Lamb is the light thereof. And for all thy 
patience with us, thy care over us, and thy 
continual mercy to us, blessed be thy name, O 
Lord, Father, Son and Spirit. Amen. 



THURSDAY MORNING. 

Thou, O God, art praised in Sion, angels 

and archangels, saints below and saintsabove, 

the whole family of thy elect, both in heaven 

and earth, worship thee, the fountain of all 

21 



162 THIRD WEEK. 

blessedness, and the giver of all good. We 
desire to join the company of thy redeemed, 
and to offer up our spiritual sacrifices. Accept, 
great God, the services we bring ; pardon the 
iniquity that cleaves to our duties ; meet us with 
a blessing; and receive us graciously, for the 
sake of Jesus Christ. 

thou who hast borne so long with us and 
done so much for us ; of whom alone cometh 
our salvation^ and by whom we escape death, 
moved by the sense of our own necessities; and 
encouraged by the daily experience of thy 
mercies, we desire to shelter ourselves under 
the shadow of thy wings, and to continue our 
supplications at the throne of thy grace: most 
humbly entreating thee, who fashionest the 
hearts of the sons of men, that thou wouldst 
prepare our hearts to come into thy sacred 
presence, and to call upon thy blessed name. 
O pour upon us the spirit of grace and of sup- 
plications ; let thy good Spirit help our infirmi- 
ties, and teach us how to pray. We, who are 
but sinful dust and ashes, have taken upon us 
to speak to thee, the Sovereign Majesty of 
heaven and earth ; we who have too much 
cause to fear, lest our great and manifold sins 
might provoke thee to hide thy face from us, 
and to shut up thy loving kindness in displea- 



THURSDAY MORNING. 163 

sure against us. I^ord be merciful to us sinners, 
for the sake of Him whom thou hast exalted 
to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give re- 
pentance unto his people and forgiveness of 
sins. Heal our souls, which have greatly 
sinned against thee ; heal our backslidings, and 
love us freely : take away our ungodliness, and 
thou shalt find none. Renew us daily unto re- 
pentance : establish our hearts in thy faith and 
fear ; and hold up our goings in thy paths, that 
our footsteps slip not. Make us, in the strength 
of grace, to go on from conquering to conquer 
all the enemies of our souls, and all the hinder- 
ances of our salvation, until thou hast bruised 
Satan under our feet. 

We bless thee for the mercies of the night. 
We laid us down to sleep, and have risen again, 
for thou hast sustained us, and made us to 
dwell in safety. May we ever experience the 
comfort of thy protection, and the help of thy 
salvation! find thee to be indeed a God of par- 
don, of sanctification, and of preservation ! 
Dispose of us, we beseech thee, and of all that 
concerns us, this day, to the glory of thy name. 
Keep us at all times, in all places, and in all 
companies, from sin, and from all other evils to 
which the greatness of our sins makes us liable. 
And take thou, O heavenly Father, the charge, 



164 THIRD WEEK. 

guidance, and government of us ; lead us by 
thy counsel, until thou hast brought us to thy 
kingdom and glory ; and in the mean while, 
sanctify to us all thy dealings with us, and seal 
us thine to the day of redemption, for the sake 
of thy tender mercies and the abundant merits 
of Jesus Christ our blessed Mediator and Re- 
deemer. Amen. 



THURSDAY EVENING. 

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are 
open, all desires known, and from whom no 
secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our 
hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, 
that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily 
magnify thy holy name, through Christ our 
Lord. 

O Lord, thou art the Searcher of our hearts 
and the Overseer of our lives, here and every 
where present. Thou compassest our path 
and our lying down, and art acquainted with 
all our ways. Lord put our hearts into a holy 
frame, fit to attend upon thy glorious all-seeing 
Majesty. Work in us, by the power of thy 
grace, that change which we cannot work in 
ourselves. We were born sinners, and by con- 



THURSDAY EVENING. 165 

tinually adding sin to sin, we have made our- 
selves still more the children of wrath than we 
were even by nature. Justly mightest thou 
withdraw thy tender mercies from us, and pour 
out thy indignation upon us ; making us to feel 
what a bitter thing it is to depart from thee, the 
living God. We humbly beseech thee to 
stretch forth the hand of thy power and grace, 
to set us at liberty who are tied and bound with 
the chain of our sins. Cause us to abhor, and 
to forsake our iniquities : and, O give us a well- 
grounded and comfortable persuasion, of our 
being justified freely by thy grace through the 
redemption that is in Jesus. And for his sake, 
vouchsafe us the sanctification of thy Spirit to 
transform us into thine image, by the renewing 
of our minds, and to enable us for all the duties 
of thy service. Perfect, O Lord, that which 
concerneth us: and make us such, both in our 
hearts and lives, that we may enjoy thy peace 
below, and be meet for the inheritance of thy 
heavenly glory above. May we rejoice in thee 
as our God, and rest upon thee as our recon- 
ciled Father in Jesus Christ. And as thou 
hast been good and kind to us through the day 
past, for which, and for the mercies of all our 
days, we would thankfully adore thy love and 
bless thy name, so we beg that we may ex- 



166 THIRD WEEK. 

perience the continuance of thy gracious good- 
ness to us, and of thy fatherly care over us, this 
present night. Preserve and defend, bless and 
keep us, that no evil may happen to us, nor 
any plague come nigh our dwelling. Favour 
HS with such needful repose as may refresh and 
strengthen us for our respective duties. Pre- 
pare us, great God, for the final sleep of death, 
and for the account we must shortly give at the 
judgment seat of Christ. When our souls are 
required of us, and w^e are unclothed of the 
body, grant that we may not be found spiritually 
naked, unsprinkled with the blood of thy Son, 
unclothed w^ith the robe of his justifying right- 
eousness, nor unadorned with the graces of thy 
sanctifying Spirit O cause us, to know and 
to follow after the things pertaining to our 
everlasting peace, before they are hid from 
our eyes, lest death should make us wise too 
late. Whenever thou shalt be pleased to send 
for us away, may we have nothing to do but to 
depart in peace, according to thy word, and 
with faith, and without dread, resign our spirits 
into thy gracious hands; trusting in the riches 
of thy grace, and the saving merits of thy 
blessed Son. And, for all that he has so won- 
derfully effected to recover us, and to obtain 
eternal redemption for us ; for whatever good 



FRIDAY MORNING. 167 

thou hast wrought in us, and for the hope of 
glory thou hast given us, to thy name, O blessed 
God of our salvation, be the praise and honour^ 
now and for ever. Anfien. 



FRIDAY MORNING. 

By thy kind care, O Lord, alone it is that 
we laid us down, in peace and are risen m 
safety. May the lives, which thy goodness 
renews every morning, and ihy providence 
preserves every moment, be devoted to thee, 
through Jesus Christ, our blessed Mediator 
and Redeemer. 

O Lord, we desire to adore thy name, which 
is excellent in all the earth, and whose glory is 
above the heavens. Thou art the Maker and 
Disposer of all things : and for thy sovereign 
pleasure it is that they still exist, and were at 
iirst created. Thy hands have made us : and 
all that we enjoy comes from thee. As we 
are the workmanship of thy power, O make 
us likewise thy spiritual workmanship, created 
anew in Christ Jesus unto holiness and true 
righteousness. Give proof that thou hast 
formed us for thyself, by causing us to show 
forth thy praise ; and by making us live to thj 



168 THIRD WEEK. 

glory, as we do every day live upon thy bounty. 
We are prone to forget thee, who art never 
unmindful of us ; and to disobey thee, whose 
goodness to us is unwearied. For these things, 
O Lord, we desire to humble ourselves before 
thee : entreating thee, for the sake of thy dear 
Son, and of thy mercies in him, to work in us 
true repentance, and to grant us full and free 
forgiveness. Strengthen us, O Lord, with 
might by thy Spirit, in the inner man, to make 
us watchful against the corruptions of our 
hearts, the temptations of Satan, and the 
sinful cares and allurements of the world. O 
destroy in us every root of bitterness, every 
plant which thy grace hath not planted ; exter- 
minate every vicious habit and rebellious mo- 
tion, which exalts itself against the knowledge 
of God, and the obedience of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Increase and confirm in us more and 
more, thy faith, and fear, and love. Let not 
one grace of thy Holy Spirit be wanting, or 
be weak, but grant us such manifestations of 
thyself, and so conform us to the image of thy 
holiness, that our lives may be comfortable to 
ourselves, profitable to others, and bring glory 
to thy great name. May we still be found in 
the way of duty, fearing God and working 
righteousness ; making it evident unto all, that 



FRIDAY MORNING. 169 

we have indeed been with Jesus; that we 
have learned of him ; that we are influenced 
by his Spirit ; guided by his example, and are 
pressing forward to his kingdom. Day by day 
would we magnify thee, O Lord, and worship 
thy name for ever, world without end, who 
crownest every day with thy tender mercies. 
We bless thee for the rest, protection, and 
preservation of the last night. O cause us to 
hear of thy loving kindness in the morning, for 
in thee do we trust ; make us to know the way 
wherein we should go, for we lift up our souls 
unto thee. Cast us not away from thy pres- 
ence ; take not thy Holy Spirit from us ; but 
direct our hearts into thy love, and our feet into 
the way of thy testimonies. Whether we eat 
or drink, or whatsoever we do, may we do all 
to the glory of God, and walk as seeing him 
that is invisible. Command thy angels to en- 
camp around us, and to bear us in their hands ; 
and may their God and ours be the strength of 
our hearts, the guide of our goings, and our 
portion for ever and ever. Amen. 



22 



no THIRD WEEK. 

FRIDAY EVENING. 

Blessed are they, O Lord, who dwell in 
thy house, and blessed is the house where thou 
dwellest ; blessed is the man w^hose strength is 
in thee, and in whose heart are thy ways. 
May that blessedness be ours, and may the 
Lord, whom we seek, visit us with his pres- 
ence, and rejoice us with the tokens of his love, 
in and through his adorable Son and our 
Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

O Lord, we desire to seek thy face, and to 
wait upon thee in the duties of thy worship. 
To whom should we make our applications 
but unto thee, the Father of mercies and the 
fountain of all goodness, who art able to do 
exceeding abundantly for us, even above all 
that w^e are able to ask or think ? O let our 
prayer be set forth in thy sight as incense ; and 
be a spiritual evening sacrifice, acceptable to 
thee in the Son of thy love. It is in his 
blessed name alone, that we request of thee 
all that thou knowest to be needful and expe- 
dient for us, seeing" that there is in us no good 
thing to recommend us to thy favour and 
acceptance ; but, a proneness to what is dis- 
pleasing unto thee, and destructive to our souls. 
For besides that we are by nature children of 



FRIDAY EVENING. 171 

wrath, and a seed of evil doers, we have been 
daily adding to the heavy score of our offences 
against thee. There is nothing in us, O Lord, 
but what might provoke thee to reject us ; but 
there is enough in thy beloved Son, of all 
grace and goodness, to make the well pleased 
with us for his sake. For his sake blot out 
our manifold transgressions, apply the benefits 
of thy salvation to our consciences, that we 
may be enabled to walk, O Lord, in the light 
of thy countenance ; hasten thy coming and 
kingdom, that we with all thy redeemed may 
join in ascribing songs of praise to God the 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for ever and 
ever. To the care and protection of thy 
almighty providence would we humbly com- 
mend ourselves this night. Take charge of us 
and ours, O thou Keeper of Israel, who never 
slumbers nor sleeps, and watch over us for 
good. Gracious Lord, shower down thy bless- 
ings upon us, the unworthy family now before 
thee ; let the voice of joy and health be heard 
in this dwelling : let thy peace be within these 
walls, and the plenteousness of thy salvation 
within these gates. Make this a house of 
prayer, and every soul within it a living temple 
of thee the living God, through Jesus Christ, 
our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen. 



172 THIRD WEEK. 

SATURDAY MORNING. 

Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy 
scriptures to be written for our learning, grant 
that we may in such wise hear them, read, 
mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by 
patience and comfort of thy holy word, we 
may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed 
hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given 
us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks : yea 
unto thee will we give thanks, because thy name 
also is so nigh, and that thy wondrous works 
do declare. We beseech thee, gracious God, 
to hear us mercifully at this time, pardon our 
manifold sinfulness and supply our manifold 
wants. Write the law of thankfulness upon 
our hearts for the experience we have 
already had of thy goodness, and kindly 
continue to be nigh unto us, in all that we call 
upon thee for. Wash away the sins of the 
last night, and those of this day hitherto ; who 
can tell how oft we offend ? none but thou that 
knowest all things. O cleanse thou us from 
our secret faults, and from our original de- 
pravity, the source of all ; may we be justified 
fully, freely, and finally, by thy grace, through 
the redemption that is in Jesus, and sanctified 



SATURDAY MORNING. 173 

by the renewing efficacy of thy blessed Spirit. 
Bless us in this our private waiting upon thee 
for we are gathered together in thy name, at 
the footstool of thy grace : Lord Jesus, be in 
the midst of us, and give unto us a comforta- 
ble view of our interest in thy precious merits. 
Let thy righteousness, blood-shedding, and 
intercession sanctify every sacrifice of prayer 
and praise which w^e offer up. Thou makest 
both the persons and performances of thy peo- 
ple acceptable to the Father ; mingle our ad- 
dresses with the incense of thy intercession, 
and then they will go up as a memorial before 
God. thou risen and ascended Saviour, may 
our hearts and affections tend upwards to thy 
throne in heaven, that by faith in thy adorable 
person and infinite merits, in the exercise of 
continual obedience and deadness to the world, 
we may safely hope to be with thee, w^here 
thou art, there to behold thy glory. thou 
uncreated Majesty, we acknowledge that all 
the blessings of a spiritual and temporal nature 
that we have received from our existence to 
this day, are of thy free and unmerited good- 
ness. Were the distributions of thy favours to 
be regulated by our deservings, they would 
soon be withdrawn. Therefore not unto us, 
O Lord, but unto thy name be the praise and 



174 THIRD WEEK. 

the glory ascribed. Hear us, O God of our 
salvation, and do more for us than we are able 
to ask or think, for the sake of thy Son, our 
Redeemer ; to whom with thee and the Holy 
Ghost, three persons in one Godhead, be 
ascribed all glory and adoration, by the church 
above and the church below, for ever and 
ever. Amen. 



SATURDAY EVENING. 

Almighty and everlasting God, who art al- 
ways more ready to hear than we to pray, and 
art wont to give more than either we desire or 
deserve, pour down upon us the abundance of 
thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof 
our consciences are afraid, and giving us those 
good things which we are not worthy to ask, 
much less to receive, but through the merits 
and mediation of Jesus Christ, our Lord ; in 
whom we desire to be found, and in his name 
do we now approach the throne of thy grace, 
and make mention of his righteousness only, as 
the ground of our justification in the sight of our 
heavenly Father; to whom, with the blessed 
Spirit, be ascribed all honour and dominion, 
world without end. 



SATURDAY EVENING. 175 

Wherewith shall we come before thee, O 
Lord ', or bow ourselves in thy presence, O 
thou most high God ? Cause us to come in 
faith ; mentioning no other name, no other 
righteousness, no other atonement, than the 
name, righteousness, and atonement of thy 
blessed Son, our adorable Mediator, Jesus 
Christ. In him we desire to be found ; through 
him we hope for favour with thee, and accept- 
ance in thy sight. Blessed be thy goodness for 
the mercies of the day, the blessings of thy 
providence, the comforts of thy Spirit, and the 
privileges we enjoy. We thank thee that we 
iiave been protected from danger, and above all 
if we have been withheld by grace from sinning 
against thee. Lord, make us thankful for the 
desire which thou hast given us of living unto 
thee ; and O make our desires effectual through 
the mighty working of thy Spirit. Lord, wash 
out the transgressions of this day, and of this 
week. And shouldest thou deal with us after 
our sins, or reward us according to our deserts, 
or if thou wast to enter into judgment with us, 
upon the footing of our best performances, 
alas! we could not stand in thy presence, nor 
be justified in thy sight. Our prayers, our 
praises, and all we are and do, brought to the 
test of thy perfect law, would be found not only 



176 THIRD WEEK. 

deplorably deficient, but altogether lighter than 
vanity itself. Yet, though we are vile, thou 
art gracious. We bless thee for that rich pro- 
vision of grace and glory which thou hast made 
for thy penitent people, in the righteousness, 
sacrifice, and intercession of him who is their 
Advocate with the Father, and the propitiation 
for their sins. O certify us by thy blessed 
Spirit, that we are loved by thee with an ever- 
lasting love, and interested in the sure mercies 
of David. Continue thy goodness towards us 
to-night. Make us rest under thy defence, O 
thou Most High, and abide under the shadow 
of the Almighty. Thy mercies to us have 
been great and unmerited. Perfect, Lord, 
that which concerneth us, and forsake not the 
work of thine own hands. Bless us with thy | 
presence, thy grace, and thy protection. Suf- " 
fer not the enemy to have any advantage over 
us; neither let the son of wickedness approach 
to hurt us. 

Be with all thine every where. Visit those, 
in particular, with thy salvation whom we de- 
sire to bear upon our hearts before thee. May 
those, who are dear and near to us, be near and 
dear to God: and whatever separation thy 
good providence may make upon earth, O grant 
that we and they may meet with joy at thy 



SATURDAY EVENING. 177 

right hand in the hour of death and in the 
day of judgment. Bless the nation of which 
we are a sinful part. Maintain the cause of thy 
truth, and enlarge the kingdom of thy Son 
amongst us. Remember for good thy faithful 
people of every denomination : more especially 
regard with thy choicest favour, and defend 
with thy mighty power, the church to which 
we belong. Bless thy servant our President. 
Direct the counsels of our country to the ad- 
vancement of thy glory, the good of thy church, 
and the safety, honour, and welfare of thy people. 
May all orders and degrees of men be fearers 
of God, lovers of truth, and workers of right- 
eousness ; strengthen and relieve those who la- 
bour under any affliction in mind, body, or es- 
tate; and make all work together for their 
good. Preserved by thy gracious mercy, we 
are coming near to the end of another week. 
Many of our fellow-creatures since the com- 
mencement thereof have left this scene, and 
have entered upon an eternal state. O God 
most holy, O God most mighty, grant, that be- 
fore our eyes close in death, we may be ena- 
bled to embrace the Lord's Christ in the arms 
of our faith. Carry us holy, peaceably, and 
safely, through the ensuing sabbath. Lift up 
the light of ihy countenances upon us, and may 
23 



178 THIRD WEEK. 

our comforts be neither few nor small. In all 
the duties that are before us may we look to 
the Spirit of grace for willingness and power 
to serve thee faithfully, and may our entire de- 
pendence be upon the merits of Jesus Christ 
the righteous, to render our defective services 
such as thou wilt mercifully accept. Be thou 
to-morrow present in the assemblies of thy 
saints. May such as seek thee be joyful and 
glad in thee ; and may they find, by happy ex- 
perience, that one day in thy courts is better 
than a thousand elsewhere, and that thy house 
is indeed the house of God, and the gate of 
heaven. Be with all the faithful stewards of 
thy mysteries in every place, who shall admin- 
ister in thy name. Enable them rightly to di- 
vide the word of truth. Pardon the unworthi- 
ness of ministers and people, and vouchsafe to 
own thy glorious gospel, by making it effectual 
to the salvation of them that hear ; every spiri- 
tual and temporal mercy we request, for the 
alone sake of Jesus Christ the righteous. Amen. 



FOURTH WEEK. 



SUNDAY MORNING. 

CHIEFLY FROM ISAIAH. 

O Thou, who, as on this day, didst burst the 
bands of death, and rise triumphant from the 
grave; thou who livest, and art alive for ever- 
more,* assist us, a family of sinful creatures, 
that we may approach acceptably the throne 
of grace, and pour out upon us, we beseech 
thee, the spirit of prayer. We thank thee for 
the repose of the night and the light and bless- 
ings of the morning.f 

May this holy day, set apart, and sanctified 
by thee,J be a sabbath of blessing throughout 
the world, and especially to us now gathered 
together before thee, to all connected with us 
by the bonds of nature or affection, and to this 
country in general. 

O Lord God ! we confess that we are indeed 
a sinful nation, a seed of evil doers ; we pro- 

* Rev. i. 18. t Zech. xii. 10. J Gen. ii. 3. 



180 FOURTH WEEK. 

voke thee, the holy One of Israel, to anger. 
From the sole of the foot, even unto the head, 
there is no soundness in us; the whole head is 
sick, the whole heart faint. Yet, O Lord, be 
not extreme to mark what we have done amiss; 
hear, we entreat thee, the prayers that shall 
this day be offered by thy faithful people ; and 
O ! that many may this day be turned from the 
power of Satan unto God,* and brought, hum- 
bled and penitent, to the foot of the cross. 

Merciful God ! we plead thy precious word 
of encouragement, that though our sins be as 
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though 
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 
O then, soften, we pray thee, our hard and 
guilty hearts. Let us no longer refuse and 
rebel, but be willing and obedient to follow 
the path that leadeth unto eternal life. Wash 
us, and make us clean in that fountain opened 
for sin and for uncleanness.f May we put 
away the evil of our doings from before thee. 
May we cease to do evil and learn to do well. 
May the loftiness of man be bowed down, and 
the haughtiness of men be made low, and the 
Lord alone be exalted on this day. 

O let thy threatened judgments awaken sin- 
ners to repentance. May we, and all men on 

* Acts xxvi. 18. t Zech. xiii. 1. 



SUNDAY MORNING. 181 

this day, humble ourselves in the dust before 
thee, remembering, with sorrow and with peni- 
tence, our innumerable transgressions, and for 
Christ's sake may our iniquity be taken away. 
Preserve us from that fear of man which 
bringeth a snare,* and may we sanctify the 
Lord God in our hearts.f May he alone 
be our fear, our sanctuary, and our strong 
defence. J 

O God ! great and glorious are the blessings 
thou hast promised in the latter days of thy 
church. Suffer us to plead the fulfilment of 
these precious promises. O when shall it be 
that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be 
established on the top of the mountains, and be 
exalted above the hills, and that all nations shall 
flow unto it } When shall it be that the earth 
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as 
the waters cover the sea } 

Many run to and fro in the earth,§ with the 
glad tidingsll of salvation. O strengthen their 
hands,^ and comfort their hearts.** Let thy 
Spirit rest upon them, and by them may know- 

* Prov. xxix. 25. 1 1 Pet. iii. 15. 

tPsa. xciv. 22. Prov. xviii. 10, "strong tower." 
§Dan. xii. 4. IF Neh. vi. 9. 

II Luke i. 19. **2Thess. ii. 17. 



182 FOURTH WEEK. 

ledge be increased, and many be added daily to 
the church of such as shall be saved * 

Merciful Father, may we rise from our 
knees, refreshed,! and strengthened, | for the 
duties of this day. Thou hast commanded us 
to keep it holy.jj O enable us to call and feel 
the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, 
honourable. May we honour thee, not doing 
our own ways, nor finding our own pleasure, 
nor speaking our own words. May we delight 
ourselves in the Lord, and do thou feed us with 
the heritage of thy people. Hear, Lord, we 
beseech thee, and in great mercy accept and 
answer these our supplications for the sake of 
our adorable Redeemer. Amen. 



SUNDAY EVEXING. 

CHIEFLY FROM ISAIAH. 

O Lord God of the sabbath !§ suffer us 
again to gather ourselves together before thee, 
and to close this sacred day with prayer and 
praise ; and let thy Holy Spirit be with us for 
Christ's sake. 

* Acts ii. 47. t Acts iii. 19. i Psa. xxvii. 14, 

llExod. xxxi. 13—17. iVIatt. v. 17. Mark ii. 27, 28. 
§Exod. XX. 10. Luke vi. 5. 



SUNDAY EVENING. 183 

Another blessed opportunity thou hast vouch- 
safed to us, wherein to attend to the things 
which belong unto our peace.* O that we 
had improved it as we ought! that we had 
loved thee more, and served thee better ; that 
our praises had been more heartfelt, our con- 
fessions more humble, our prayers more fervent. 
Yet, O Lord, sinful as we are in our best ser- 
vices, reject us not; nor suffer us to retire to 
rest without thy pardon and thy blessing. Ac- 
cept, we pray thee, our imperfect endeavours 
to keep this day holy : let the precious blood 
of our Saviour wash away all our defilements, 
and for his sake look upon us as a reconciled 
Father in Christ Jesus.f 

We pray also for all christian congregations, 
and for all who, in the church, the family, or 
the closet, have this day endeavoured to seek 
thee in thine own appointed way. 

O God, though thou mayest justly be angry 
with us, miserable sinners, yet for Christ's sake 
let thine anger be turned away from us, and 
comfort us, we pray thee, with heavenly com- 
fort. Enable us with joy to draw water out of 
the wells of salvation, to trust in thee, and not 
be afraid. O thou holy One of Israel, our 
strength, our song, our salvation! we would 

♦Luke xix. 42. 1 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. 



184 FOURTH WEEK. 

praise thee, we would exalt thy name; for 
thou hast done wonderful things in the earth, 
thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. 
Thou art a strength to the poor, a strength to 
the needy in his distress, a refuge from the 
storm, a shadow from the heat. O may our 
minds be more and more stayed on thee. O 
Lord our God, henceforward let the chief 
desire of our souls be to thy name, and to the 
remembrance of thee; yea, with our souls may 
w^e desire thee in the night ; with our spirits 
may we seek thee early. 

O God, give thy blessing, we earnestly be- 
seech thee, to the means that have been used 
this day, for the spreading of the gospel both 
at home and abroad. We would plead for 
thine ancient people Israel. Hast thou not 
promised to give them rest from their sorrow, 
and from their fear, and from their hard bond- 
age wherein thou hast made them to serve.'* 
O that they may take hold of thy strength, and 
make peace with thee ! We would plead also, 
O God, thy further promise, that thou wilt 
destroy the face of the coverings cast over all 
people, and the vail that is spread over all 
nations. Hasten, O Lord, that glorious day, 
that the deaf may hear the words\of the book, 
and the eyes of the blind may see out of 



MONDAY MORNING. 185 

obscurity and out of darkness ; that the mrek 
may increase their joy in the Lord, they that 
erred in spirit come to understanding, and they 
that murmured learn doctrine. O hasten that 
glorious day in which it shall be said, Lo ! this 
is our God, we have waited for him, and he 
will save us ; this is the Lord, we have waited 
for him, we will be glad, and rejoice in his 
salvation. 

O Lord ! be gracious unto us at the voice of 
our cry ; protect us from all injury this night : 
bring us to the morning in peace : hear us, and 
answer us, we earnestly beseech thee, for the 
sake of thy dear Son, Jesus Christ, the Saviour 
of mankind. Amen. 



MONDAY MORNING. 

CHIEFLY FROM THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW. 

O Heavenly Father ! who in wonderful 
love to mankind didst send thine only Son into 
the world, to be unto us both a sacrifice for 
sin,* and also an ensample of godly life, fill 
our hearts with gratitude and love to thee. We 
desire to praise thee for/thy preservation of us 
through the past night, for thy daily mercies, 

* Heb. ix. 26. x. 12. Eph. v. 2. 
24 



186 FOURTH WEEK. 

for thy long-suffering towards us, and particu- 
larly for the inestimable gift of the holy scrip- 
tures. O may we, with earnest prayer, make 
them our constant study."^ May the pure doc- 
trines and heavenly precepts that proceeded 
from the lips of our adorable Redeemer, sink 
deep into our hearts, convince us of our utter 
unworthiness, and bring us, in prostration of 
soul, to the foot of the cross. 

Lord! of ourselves we perish If we cannot 
stand before thee because of our trespasses.;]; 
Every day, every hour, every moment of our 
lives, we are transgressing the holy purity of 
thy law. Yet for the sake of Him who was 
bruised for our iniquities, and by whose stripes 
we are healed, || look not upon us in anger, 
neither chasten us in thy displeasure § Look 
upon us in the Son of thy love. Look upon us 
in him whom thou hast^ called Jesus, because 
he should save his people from their sins. En- 
able us truly to believe in him, as thy beloved 
Son, in whom thou art well pleased, and through 
faith, may we bring forth fruits meet for re- 
pentance. 

O heavenly Father ! who hast promised to 

* 2 Tim. iii. 14—17. || Isa. liii. 5. 

t John iii. 15. § Psa. xxxviii. 1. 

JEzra, ix. 15. 



MONDAY MORNING. 187 

give good things to those who ask thee, pour 
upon us the spirit of fervent, humble, persever- 
ing prayer. Teach us thyself to pray. May 
we so ask, that it may be given unto us ; so 
seek, that we may find ; so knock, that it may 
be opened unto us. 

O Lord ! our hearts by nature are proud, un- 
charit^ible, carnal, unholy. Make us, we pray 
thee, meek and lowly as our blessed Saviour. 
May we mourn for sin, that we may be com- 
forted by thee. May we hunger and thirst 
after righteousness, that we may be filled. 
May we be merciful, that we may obtain mer- 
cy. May we be pure in heart, that we may see 
God. May we be peacemakers amongst our 
brethren, forgiving, as we would be forgiven. 
If there be any that hate us, may we do good to 
them ; if any that despitefully use us, or perse- 
cute us, may we pray for them, that we may be 
the children of our Father which is in heaven. 
Suffer us not to retain any thing in our hearts 
which is offensive to thee ; but should it be 
dear to us as a right eye, let us pluck it out, 
and cast it from us. May our light so shine 
before men that they may see our good works, 
and glorify our Father which is in heaven. But 
let us not be eager for the applause of men. 
May we remember that no man can serve two 



188 FOURTH WEEK. 

masters; that the world and heaven cannot to- 
gether hold possession of our hearts, and since 
we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth,* 
may we earnestly seek to have our treasure and 
our hearts in heaven. 

O God, who knowest that of ourselves we 
can do nothing, pour out abundantly thy Holy 
Spirit upon us, that we may both perceive and 
know what things we ought to do,- and also 
may have grace and power faithfully to per- 
form the same, through Jesus Christ, in whom 
alone we hope for acceptance both now, and 
in eternity. Amen. 



MONDAY EVENING, 

lUl's El 
THIANS. 

Lord, teach us to pray If May we ap- 
proach thee acceptably with reverence and 
godly fear,J and worship thee in spirit and in 
truth,§ through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Sa- 
viour. 

Give unto us we beseech thee, the light of 
thy Holy Spirit, that we may be enabled to re- 

* Heb. xi. 13. J Heb. xii. 28. 

t Luke, xi. 1. § John, iv. 23. 



MONDAY EVENING. 189 

ceive Christ Jesus into our hearts, as our 
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, 
and redemption. O may thy love be shed 
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost; and 
may we cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of 
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear 
of God. Give unto us that godly sorrow for 
sin which worketh repentance to salvation not 
to be repented of May we be washed, and 
sanctified, and justified, in the name of the Lord 
Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Fill us 
with a holy dread of offending thee. We are 
bought with a price; the precious blood of the 
eternal Son of God : therefore may we seek to 
glorify God, in our body and in our spirit 
which are God"'s. May we be temperate in all 
things, keeping under the body, and bringing it 
into subjection, lest the enemy of souls shall 
prevail against us. 

O God of faithfulness ; who knowest the de- 
vices with which Satan is continually endea- 
vouring to ruin us, let us not, we pray thee, be 
tried above that we are able ; but with every 
temptation, make us a way to escape, that we 
may be able to bear it. 

We beseech thee to fill our hearts with true 
and fervent charity, with love to Godand man; 



190 FOURTH WEEK. 

that charity, which suffereth long and is kind, 
that charity which never faileth. 

Pour down upon us the abundance of thy 
Spirit. May it be mighty through God within 
us, casting down every high thing that exalteth 
itself against the knowledge of God, and bring- 
ing into captivity every thought to the obedi- 
ence of Christ. 

O God, who didst command the light to 
shine out of darkness, shine, we beseech thee, 
into our hearts, to give the light of the know- 
ledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
Christ, And since we have the treasures of 
thy grace in earthen vessels, that the excellency 
of the power may be of Gody and not of us, 
Lord, increase our faith !* And should we, 
through the weakness of our fleshy the malice 
of Satan or mankind, be troubled on every side, 
yet let us not be distressed ; though perplexed, 
let us not be in despair; though persecuted, let 
us not fear we are forsaken ; though cast down, 
let us yet be thankful we are not destroyed 
for our iniquities. May the afflictions which 
thou seest good to send to us for the trial of our 
faithf and patience,^ work for us a far more 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Though 

*Lukexvii. 5. flPet. i. 7. {James v. 7— 11- 



MONDAY EVENING. 191 

our outward man perish, yet may our inward 
man be renewed day by day., and finally, when 
our earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved 
may we have a building of God, a house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 

Blessed be God, even the Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and 
the God of all comfort ; blessed be his holy 
name for the mercies of the day past, and of 
our lives past; and above all, blessed be his 
holy name for the g-ift of his dear Son. O that 
we might feel the love of Christ constraining 
us, that henceforth we might live not unto our- 
selves, but unto him who died for us and rose 
again. 

Lord, we commend ourselves and all our 
fellow-creatures unto thee this night in body 
and in soul. May we rest in peace under the 
shadow of thy wings;* and bear, we earnestly 
beseech thee, these our prayers, and accept 
our praises, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our 
blessed Mediator and Redeemer. Amen. 

* Psa. xxxvi. 7. 



192 FOURTH WEEK. 



TUESDAY MORNING. 

CHIEFLY FROM ST. PAULAS EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 

Almighty and most merciful God ! who 
has graciously encouraged thy weak and 
sinful creatures to call upon (hee,* enable us 
to approach the throne of grace in faith, and 
with deep humility and reverence. May we 
draw near to thee in singlenessf and simplicityt 
of heart, trusting alone in our Saviour for ac- 
ceptance, and let thy Holy Spirit be with us to 
teach and help us to pray. 

Thanks be to thee, God, who hast raised 
us in safety from our beds, and permitted us 
again to meet together in thy name. Thanks 
be to thee who hast in some measure opened 
our eyes to the blessed truths of tlie gospel. 
Thanks be to thee for the glorious hope laid 
up in heaven for every true believer. may 
we be delivered from the power of darkness 
and be translated into the kingdom of thy dear 
Son, and in him may we have redemption 
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. 
We earnestly desire, O God, that we may be 
filled with the knowledge of thy will, in all 
wisdom, and spiritual understanding, that we 

* Psa. i. 15. t Acts ii. 46. t 2 Cor. xi. 3. 



TUESDAY MORNING. 193 

may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleas- 
ing, being fruitful in every good work, and 
increasing in the knowledge of thee our God. 
May we be strengthened with all might ac- 
cording to thy glorious power, unto all patience 
and long suffering with joyfulness. Make us 
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the 
saints in light : and since it has pleased thee 
that in Christ Jesus all fulness should dwell, 
may we ever have an eye directed unto him in 
faith, looking unto thee through him alone, for 
every good thing of which we stand in need 
for time and for eternity. 

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ! God of 
patience and of consolation !* remember with 
thy love all who have ever asked our prayers 
or prayed for us. Comfort our hearts. May 
they be knit together in love, and unto all 
riches of the full assurance of understanding, 
to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, 
and of the Father and of Christ. O thou, in 
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge, reveal to us the truth. Enable us 
to receive Christ Jesus, as our Lord and Sa- 
viour, and may we walk in him, rooted and 
built up in him. Stablish us in the faith, and 

* Rom. XV. 5, 6« 

23 



194 FOURTH WEEK. 

may we abound therein with thanksgiving, 
^lay we seek those things that are above? 
where Christ sitteth on the riglit hand of God. 
May we set our affections on things above not 
on the things of the earth, and may we hence 
forward be dead unto sin, and our life hid with 
Christ in God. Give us grace to mortify our 
members which are upon the earth ; and put- 
ting ofl" anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and 
uncleanness, may we put on, as the elect of 
God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, 
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long- 
suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving 
one another. Above all things, may we put 
on charity, the bond of perfectness. Let the 
peace of God rule in our hearts, and the word 
of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom; 
and whatsoever we do in word or deed, may 
we do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
giving thanks to God, and the Father, by him. 
May all who profess to be christians faithfully 
discharge the duties of their various stations. 
Finally, may we all continue in prayer, and 
watch in the same with thanksgiving, and may 
grace be with us through Jesus Christ. Amen, 



TUESDAY EVENING. 195 

TUESDAY EVENING. 

CHIEFLY FROM DEUTERONOMY AND ISAIAH. 

Almighty God ! we desire with humble 
reverence to cast ourselves at the foot of thy 
mercy-seat, and with earnestness to implore 
pardon and blessing from thee, before we lie 
down to rest. 

O Lord, the rock of our salvation, thou 
art our Father, who hast made us, and pre- 
served us to this hour. 

But, alas ! we are a foolish people, and un- 
wise, and have ill requited thy patience and 
long suffering towards us. We deserve to be 
cast off from thee for ever ; but, O Father of 
heaven, remember thy blessed promise to thy 
people, that although they have done evil in 
thy sight to provoke thee to anger, yet if they 
shall seek thee again with all their heart, and 
with all their soul, they shall find thee, and that 
thou wilt be to them a merciful God, and wilt 
not destroy them. O forgive our sins and our 
iniquities, and let them no longer separate be- 
tween us and our God. Give us a heart to 
fear thee, and to keep thy commandments 
always, that it may be well with us, and that 
thou mayest establish thy covenant with us, as 
thou didst with thy people of old. Let us no 



1S6 FOURTH WEEK. 

longer forget the Lord who formed us; but 
may we humble ourselves* and repent ;t and 
do thou, O most merciful God, henceforth lead 
us and instruct us, and keep us as the apple 
of thine eye. 

Have pity, we beseech thee, upon all those 
whom a deceived heart hath turned aside. O 
bring the blind by a way they know not, make 
darkness light before them, and crooked things 
straight. Behold with compassion the sins and 
miseries of a fallen world. Hast thou not 
promised to pour out thy Spirit from on high, 
till the wilderness shall become a fruitful field 
to pour water upon him that is thirsty, and 
floods upon the dry ground ? Hast thou not 
promised that when the enemy shall come in 
like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up 
a standard against him ? 

O Lord, our eyes are fixed upon thee, our 
hope and our deliverer ! we waitj for thee, 
we plead thy gracious promises. 

Pour out in these last days thy Spirit upon 
all flesh,§ and look with favour upon every 
society established for the spreading of the 
truth around the world. We would unfeign- 

* 2 Chron.vii. 14. xxxiv. 27. Matt, xviii.4. xxiii. 12. 

t 1 Kings, viii. 46—50. 

t Micah, vii. 7. § Joel, ii. 28. 



TUESDAY EVENING. 197 

ediy thank thee for any success that niay have 
hitherto attended them, and we beseech thee 
that we may be " thereby encouraged to per- 
severe in more zealous labours, and more fer- 
vent prayers." Bless and strengthen all thy 
faithful people in all parts of the world, particu- 
larly the ministers of the gospel, and all who are 
gone into foreign lands to teach the unenlight- 
ened the way of peace. May the Spirit of the 
Lord rest upon them, the spirit of wisdom and 
understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, 
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 
In all their labours, their discouragements, and 
their trials, be thou nigh to uphold and 
strengthen them. Be thou to them as a hiding 
place from the wind, and a covert from the 
tempest ; as rivers of waters in a dry place, 
as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. 
May all hearts be opened to receive the doc- 
trines of thy holy word ; may thy blessed 
Spirit be with all who hear and read it, that 
it may drop into their hearts as the rain, and 
distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the ten- 
der herb, and as the showers upon the grass, that, 
as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and the gar- 
den causeth the things sown in it to spring forth, 
so the Lord God may cause righteousness and 
praise to spring forth before all nations. 



198 FOURTH WEEK. 

Hear, O Almighty Father, these our un- 
worthy supplications and prayers for the sake 
of our dear and only Saviour Jesus Christ. 
Amen. 



WEDNESDAY' MORNING. 

CBflEFLY FROM ST. PAUl's EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 

Blessed and all-glorious God ! to whom we 
have access by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
we know not what to pray for as we ought, 
but give us we beseech thee, according to thy 
word, thy Spirit to help our infirmities, and to 
make intercession* for us. 

We desire, O God, to begin this day with a 
thankful acknowledgment of thy fatherly care 
over us through the night that is past, and for 
the many and undeserved blessings thou from 
day to day bestowest upon us. They are new 
every morning, great is thy faithfulness.f O 
may we be justified by faith, and have peace 
with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
rejoice in hope of the glory of God. But, O 
heavenly Father ! we are miserable sinners ! 
Be merciful, unto us ! Let grace purchased 

• Rom. yiii. 26. f Lam. iii. 23. 



WEDNESDAY MORNING. 199 

for US by the blood of Christ,^ abound towards 
us, in the forgiveness of all our sins. We 
know that the wages of sin is death, and yet 
how frequently have we yielded our members 
servants to iniquity unto iniquity. We know 
that the commandment is holy, and just, and 
good ; but, alas ! we find within us, that when 
we would do good, evil is present with us. 

O Saviour, Lord God Almighty ! deliver us 
from the body of this death. Graft us into 
thyself. Take from us that carnal mind which 
is death, and give us that spiritual mind which 
is life and peace. Yea, may the Spirit of 
Christ dwell within us. 

O God! our enemies are lively and they 
are strong.f We are surrounded with temp- 
tations and trials from within and from without. 
But be thou for us. Thou, who in thy won- 
drous love has not spared thine own Son, but 
hast delivered him up for us all, wilt thou not 
with him freely give us all things } Thou, who 
although thou hatest iniquity, yet justifiest the 
penitent believer, let us be of the number of 
thine elect and who shall lay any thing to our 
charge ? Thou our Saviour, yea, the Saviour 
of all who believe,! who didst die, who art 

* Acts, XX. 28. t Psa.xxxviii. 19. X 1 Tim, iv, 10, 



200 FOURTH WEEK. 

risen again, who art at the right hand of God, 
to make intercession for us; hear the humble 
prayers of those who, although as dust and 
ashes before thee, have taken upon them to 
speak unto thee * Hear us, not for ourselves 
alone, but for our relations, our friends, our 
acquaintances, our country and all our fellow- 
creatures. Plead thou for us, Lord, and we 
shall not be condemned. O gather us under 
thy wings,t let us for ever abide in thee,J and 
let nothing separate us from thy love. 

May we henceforward present our bodies a 
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, unto God, 
which is our reasonable service. Let us no 
longer be conformed to this world, but be trans- 
formed by the renewing of our mind, that we 
may prove what is that good, and acceptable, 
and perfect, will of God. May we abhor that 
which is evil, cleave to that which is good ; be 
kindly affectioned one to another with brother- 
ly love, giving with simplicity, showing mercy 
with cheerfulness, not slothful in business, 
but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoic- 
ing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing 
instant in prayer. May we rejoice with them 
that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 

* Gen. xviii.27. f Matt, xxiii. 37. t John, xv. 4. 



WEDNESDAY EVENING. 201 

If it be possible, as much as in us lies, may we 
live peaceably with all men, and not be over- 
come of evil, but overcome evil with good. 

O God of peace, according to thy blessed 
promise, bruise Satan under our feet shortly; 
and if it pleaseth thee, fill us with all joy and 
peace in believing, that we may abound in 
hope through the power of the Holy Ghost ; 
and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be 
with us all. Amen, 



WEDNESDAY EVENING; 

CHIEFLY FROM ST. LUKe's GOSPEL. 

Blessed be thou, O Lord God, who hast 
visited and redeemed thy people; who hast 
sent thy holy word amongst us to give know- 
ledge of salvation, to give light to them that sit 
in darkness and in the shadow of death, to 
guide our feet into the way of peace. 

O God, our merciful Father ! open our hearts 
to receive with gratitude the precious truths of 
the gospel. May we know ourselves to be 
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, 
and naked,^ and fiee unto Him who has 
promised to cast out none that come unto him.f 

* Rev. iii. 17. t J<?^n, vi. 37. 

26 



202 FOURTH WEEK. 

O grant, that we being delivered out of the 
hands of our spiritual enemies, may serve thee, 
our God, without fear, in holiness and right- 
ousness all the days of our life. May our 
hearts be as the good ground, on which the 
precious seed was sown. May we hear the 
word, and keep it, and bring forth fruit with 
patience. 

Lord ! we are unworthy to take thy name 
within our polluted lips,* but if thou wilt, thou 
canst make us clean. O have compassion upon 
us, put forth thine hand, and say, '' I will, be 
thou clean ;" then shall the leprosy of our sin 
depart from us. We are often distressed, per- 
plexed, and wretched, from inward tempta- 
tions, and outward trials, so that our hearts are 
like a vessel tossed upon a troubled sea. But, 
merciful Saviour! rebuke the raging winds 
and waves, then there shall be a calm. In all 
the sorrows, and the suiFerings of this troubled 
life, say unto us, " Be of good cheer, it is I, be 
not afraid ;''t then shall our souls find strength 
and peace. 

Give us grace to choose the one thing need- 
ful, that good part which shall not be taken 
away from us; may we remember that this 

*Isa. vi. 5. t Matt xiv. 27. 



WEDNESDAY EVENING. 203 

world is not our rest ;* teach us to deny our- 
selves, to take up our cross daily, and to follow 
our blessed Master bearing in nnind his admo- 
nition, that no man having put his hand to the 
plough, and looking back, is fit for the king- 
dom of God. 

O merciful Father, who hast promised to 
give thy Holy Spirit to them that ask it, give 
it abundantly to us, we earnestly beseech thee, 
for of ourselves we cannot please thee. Give 
us grace to confess Christ before men. We 
know not, but that this night our souls may be 
required of us. O be merciful to us, sinners ! 
and pardon all our offences, for Christ's sake : 
and may our loins be girded about, and our 
lights burning : and may we be ready, for we 
know not at what hour the Son of man may 
come. 

Have mercy, we implore thee, on all our 
fellow-creatures; especially upon those who 
hitherto have been regardless of thee and eter- 
nity. All things are possible with thee.f 
Speak the word,J and they shall awake§ from 
the death of sin, unto a life of righteousness. 
Open their eyes, and they shall know thee ; 

* Micah, ii. 10. t Matt. viii. 8. 

t Matt. xix. 26. § Eph. v. 14. 



204 FOURTH WEEK. 

break their stubborn hearts,* and they shall 
mourn. f O that this night, there might be joy 
in the presence of the angels of God over many 
a repentant sinner. O that this night, many 
and many might be gathered under thy wings 
of mercy, compassionate Redeemer ! 

To thee, all-merciful and all-mighty Father, 
we commend ourselves, and all mankind ; and 
very particularly those who have ever asked 
our prayers. Preserve us in body and in soul ; 
and after this life is ended, may an entrance be 
ministered unto us abundantly, into thine ever- 
lasting kingdom,! through Jesus Christ, our 
Mediator and Intercessor. Amen. 



THURSDAY MORNING. 

CHIEFLY FROM THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PETER. 

U BLESSED and glorious God, Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to thine 
abundant mercy, has begotten us unto a lively 
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from 
the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and 
undefiled, and that fadeth not away, keep us 
by thy mighty power through faith unto salva- 
tion. Enable us to rejoice in our Saviour. 

* Psa. xxxiv. 18. li. 17. cxlvii. 3. 

t Zech. xii. 10. Matt. v. 4. J 2 Pet. i. 11. 



THURSDAY MORNING. 205 

Though we have not seen him, yet may we 
love him ; and believing in him, may we rejoice 
with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Or, if 
in this world of tribulation we are, if need be, 
for a season in heaviness, through manifold 
temptations, O let the trial of our faith, being 
much more precious than of gold that perisheth, 
though it be tried with fire, be found unto 
praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing 
of Jesus Christ. May we gird up the loins of 
our mind, be sober, and hope to the end, for 
the grace that is to be brought unto us at the 
revelation of Jesus Christ. As He who has 
called us is holy, so may we be holy in all man- 
ner of conversation. May we purify our souls 
in obeying the truth through the Spirit; and 
may we be born again, not of corruptible seed, 
but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which 
liveth and abideth for ever. 

O Lord, give us a meek and quiet spirit, 
which is in thy sight of great price : and above 
all things, give us charity. Make us to love 
our neighbour with a pure heart fervently ; and 
more earnestly to desire and pray for the wel- 
fare of our fellow-creatures. 

O that all men might come unto that Living 
Stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of 
God, and precious. O Lord ! open the eyes 



206 FOURTH WEEK. 

of all that are in error; lead them in faith and 
repentance to Christ Jesus ; call them out of 
darkness into thy marvellous light. Let those 
who as yet have not obtained mercy, now ob- 
tain mercy ; and let all who are now as sheep 
going astray, be brought unto the Shepherd and 
Bishop of their souls : and, O Lord, grant that 
all who profess to follow thee, who art a God 
of peace,* may be of one mind, having com- 
passion one of another. May we love as 
brethren, be pitiful, be courteous ; not render- 
ing ev'il for evil, but contrariwise blessing. 
May we sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, 
and be ready always to give an answer to every 
man that asketh us a reason of the hope that is 
in us, with meekness and fear, having a good 
conscience ; that whereas, others speak evil of 
us, as of evil-doers, they may be ashamed that 
falsely accuse our good conversation in Christ. 
Remembering the end of all things is at hand, 
may we be sober, and watch unto prayer. 
When it shall please thee to send trials, and 
afflictions, let us not think it strange, as though 
some strange thing had happened unto us ; but 
rejoice, inasmuch as we are partakers of 
Christ's sutferings, and believe that when his 

* Rom. XV. 33. 2 Cor.xiii. 11. 1 Thess. v. 23. Heb. 
xiii.20. 



THURSDAY EVENING. 207 

glory shall be revealed v^e shall be glad also 
with exceeding joy. May we be clothed with 
humility, remembering that God resisteth the 
proud, but giveth grace to the humble. May 
we humble ourselves under thy mighty hand, 
casting all our care upon thee, and believing 
that thou carest for us. O enable us stead- 
fastly, to resist our adversary, the devil, 
knowing that the same afflictions are accom- 
plished in our brethren that are in the world. 
And, O thou, who art the God of all grace, 
after that we, have suffered awhile, make us, 
we beseech thee, perfect ; establish, strengthen, 
settle us : and may peace be with us all, through 
Jesus Christ. Amen. 



THURSDAY EVENING. 

CHIEFLY FROM ST. PAUl's EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 

O God ! who at sundry times, and in divers 
manners, didst speak in time past to thine an- 
cient people by the prophets, and hast in later 
days spoken unto us by thy Son, who is the 
brightness of thy glory, and the express image 
of thy person, enable us to give earnest heed 
to the things revealed unto us, lest at any time 
we should let them slip. 



208 FOURTH WEEK. 

Preserve us all, we beseech thee, from an 
evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the liv- 
ing God; and let none of us be hardened 
through the deceitfulness of sin. We are weak 
and helpless, but thou art everlasting strength. 
O Lord! enable us, with humble boldness, to 
draw near to the throne of grace, in the name 
of Jesus, our great High Priest, who ever liv- 
eth to make intercession for us : and may we, 
for his sake, obtain mercy and pardon, and 
grace to help in time of need. May we flee 
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before 
us ; and enable us to hold the beginning of our 
confidence, stedfast unto the end. 

Let us not be slothful, but followers of them 
who through faith and patience inherit the 
promises. Pour upon us an abundant measure 
of thy grace and Holy Spirit; and may the 
blood of Christ, who offered himself without 
spot to God, purge our consciences from dead 
works, to serve the living God. 

O that it might please thee to give unto us a 
full assurance of faith ! Though we can only 
view thy promises afar off, yet, like the saints 
of old, may we be persuaded of them, and em- 
brace them ; and confessing ourselves to be 
strangers and pilgrims upon earth, may we fix 



THURSDAY EVENING. 209 

our hopes upon that better country, where a 
rest remaineth for the people of God. 

Knowing He is faithful who promised, may 
we consider one another to provoke unto love 
and to good works, not forsaking the assemb- 
ling of ourselves together, as the manner of 
some is, but exhorting one another, and so 
much the more as we see the day approaching. 
Let us not be of the number of them who draw 
back unto perdition, but of them who believe 
to the saving of the soul. 

Give us grace to lay aside every weight, and 
the sin which doth so easily beset us, and to 
run with patience the race that is set before us, 
looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of 
our faith. May we follow peace with all men, 
and holiness, and may we have grace to serve 
thee acceptably, with reverence and godly 
fear. 

We pray thee, almighty Father, to preserve, 
pardon, and bless all our dear friends and rela- 
tions, and mercifully to supply the wants, both 
spiritual and temporal, of all our fellow-crea- 
tures. Especially we would commend to thee, 
the afflicted in mind, body, or estate. O let 
them not be wearied and faint in their minds. 
Let them not despise the chastening of the 
Lord, nor faint when they are rebuked of him, 
27 



iXO FOURTH WEEK. 

but remember with comfort, that whom the 
Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every 
son whom he receiveth. May their chastening 
be for their profit, and make them thereby 
more and more partakers of thy holiness ; and 
though for the present it seemeth not joyous, 
but grievous, yet let it yield in them the peace- 
able fruits of righteousness. 

O thou ! who hast promised never to leave 
nor forsake* those who follow thee, we beseech 
thee to make us perfect in every good work, 
to do thy will, working in us that which is 
well pleasing in thy sight, through Jesus Christ, 
to whom with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, 
be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 



FRIDAY MORNING. 

CHIEFLT FROM THE GOSPELS OF ST. MATTHEW AND 
ST. LUKE. 

O ! BLESSED Saviour of mankind ! who hast 
promised that where two or thee are gathered 
together in thy name, there thou wilt be in the 
midst of them ; and that if two of thy disciples 
shall agree on earth, as touching any thing 
they shall ask, it shall be done for them, by 

*Deut. xxxi. 8. 



FRIDAY MORNING. 211 

our Father which is in heaven: fulfil, we 
earnestly beseech thee, thy gracious promises 
towards us, a family of sinful creatures, assem- 
bled together in thy name ; and assist us to ask 
such things, and in such a manner as shall please 
thee, and reach the throne of mercy through 
thy precious intercession. 

O God ! as thou hast in mercy raised us up 
from our beds, so may we arise to newness* 
and holiness of life. As the light of day has 
chased away the shades of night, so let the 
light of thy truth beam upon our hearts, dark- 
ened with the corruptions of a sinful nature. 
May we constantly bear in mind all that thy 
dear Son has done and suffered for us. When 
we read in thy holy word, of his life of patience 
and humility, of his devotedness to the service 
of God and man, of his agony and bloody sweat, 
of the cruel mocking and scourging to which 
he was exposed, of his lingering and painful 
death upon the cross, and, above all, of the 
anguish of his soul, when sinking under the 
wrath of God, voluntarily incurred for man's 
sake,t O make us deeply to feel the evil of sin, 
and the exceeding love of God ; and may we 
earnestly endeavour, through thy grace assisting 
us, to follow the blessed precepts contained in 

♦Rom. vi. 4. t^^rk, xiv. xv. John, xix 



212 FOURTH WEEK. 

the holy scriptures. O that, wearied and heavy 
laden with the burden of our sins, we and all 
dear to us, might come unto thee, merciful 
Saviour, for rest. May we take thy yoke 
upon us, and learn of thee, who art meek and 
lowly in heart, that we may find rest unto our 
souls. May we humble ourselves, and become 
as little children. May we have grace from 
our hearts to forgive every one his brother 
their trespasses; yea, to forgive, not only until 
seven times, but until seventy times seven; re- 
membering how often we have sinned against 
thee. Help us to watch and pray that we 
enter not into temptation ; and because of the 
weakness of our flesh, let thy Holy Spirit, we 
pray thee, be ever ready to help our infirmities. 
O Lord ! may we earnestlj^ seek to know, and 
to do thy will. Let us not be ruled by man's 
judgment, but by thy holy and revealed will. 
O thou who earnest into the world to seek and 
to save that which was lost, have mercy upon 
all who as yet are wanderers from thy fold ; 
and upon all who, professing themselves to be 
christians, dwelling in a christian land, and 
having the word preached amongst them, yet 
live regardless of its holy doctrines and pre- 
cepts. We pray, Lord ! that their eyes may 



FRIDAY EVENING. 213 

be opened ! that they might receive their sight, 
and follow thee, the Lord their God. 

Thou hast commanded that the gospel should 
be preached to every creature,* and thou hast 
promised to be with us always, even unto the 
end of the world. O let thy richest blessing 
rest upon all, who either at home or among 
heathen nations, are labouring in the cause of 
the truth. Intercede for them, blessed Saviour 
and for all who seek thee, that their faith fail 
not, but that they may in patience possess their 
souls unto the end. These mercies we humbly 
ask for the sake of thy Son, our Lord and 
Saviour. Amen. 



FRIDAY EVENING. 

CHIEFLY FROM ST. PAUl's EPISTLE TO THE EPHE- 

SIANS. 

O Father we bow our knees unto thee, in 
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grant 
uuto us, we beseech thee, wisdom and know- 
ledge in him. May the eyes of our understand- 
ing be enlightened, that we may know what is 
the hope of his calling, and what the riches of 
the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and 

♦Mark, xvi. 15. 



214 FOURTH WEEK. 

what is the exceeding greatness of his power 
to usward who believe. 

O grant unto us, according to the riches of 
thy glory, to be strengthened with might by 
thy Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may 
dwell in our hearts by faith, that we being 
rooted and grounded in love, may be able to 
comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth 
and length, and depth, and height, and to know 
the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, 
that we may be filled with all the fulness of 
God. Enable us to walk worthy of the voca- 
tion wherewith we are called, with all lowliness 
and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing 
one another in love, endeavouring to keep the 
unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. 

O thou! who hast ascended up on high, lead- 
ing captivity captive,, and hast received* gifts 
for men, pour abundantly upon us thy Holy 
Spirit, that we henceforth be no more children, 
tossed to and fro, and carried about with every 
wind of doctrine; but speaking the truth in 
love, may grow up unto thee in all things. 
Suffer us not to be alienated from the life of 
God, through the ignorance and blindness of 
our hearts, but may we know and follow the 

*Psa. Ixviii. 18. 



FRIDAY EVENING. 215 

truth as it is in Jesus. May we put off the 
former conversation, and be renewed in right- 
eousness and true holiness. May we speak 
every one truth with his neighbour; let us not 
suffer the sun to go down upon our wrath, re- 
membering the precept, Be ye angry, and sin 
not. Let no corrupt communication proceed 
out of our mouth ; but that which is good to 
edify, that it may minister grace unto the hear- 
ers ; and let us not grieve the Holy Spirit of 
God. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, 
and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away 
from us, with all malice ; and may we be kind 
one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one 
another, even as we hope God, for Christ's 
sake, hath forgiven us. 

May we be strong in the Lord, and in the 
power of his might, putting on the whole ar- 
mour of God, that we may be able to stand 
against the wiles of the devil, against flesh 
and blood, against principalities, and powers, 
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, 
and against spiritual wickedness in high places. 
O may our loins be girt about with truth, may 
we have on the breast-plate of righteousness, 
and our feet shod with the preparation of the 
gospel of peace. Above all, may we take the 
shield of faith, to quench all the fiery darts of 



216 FOURTH WEEK. 

the wicked: also the helmet of salvation, and 
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of 
God, praying always with all prayer and sup- 
plication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto 
with all perseverance and supplication for all 
saints; especially for the ministers of God's 
word, that utterance may be given unto them 
that they may open their mouth boldly to make 
known the mystery of the gospel. 

O Lord our God ! for all the mercies of the 
day past, give us, we pray thee, thankful 
hearts. Pardon whatever thy holy eyes have 
seen amiss in us, and be pleased to watch over 
us through the silent hours of the night, and 
may grace and peace be with us, and all our 
dear friends and relations, through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 



SATURDAY MORNING. 

CHIEFLY FROM THE THIRD TO THE TWENTY-SIXTH 
/ PSALM. 

O Lord our God ! how excellent is thy name 
in all the earth, who hast set thy glory above 
the heavens ! We would praise thee, O God, 
with our whole heart : we would declare all 
thy marvellous works ; we would be glad and 



SATURDAY MORNING. 217 

joice in thee; we would sing praise to thy 
name, O thou Most High. We laid us down 
and slept ; we awaked, for thou, Lord didst 
sustain us. We will trust in thy mercy, for 
thou hast dealt bountifully with us. O God ! 
prepare our hearts to pray unto thee, and from 
thy holy temple above, look down upon us, and 
hear our cry. Unto thee do we lift up our 
souls ; let not the enemies of our salvation tri- 
umph over us. Show us thy ways, O Lord ; 
teach us thy paths ; lead us in thy truth and 
teach us, for thou art the God of our salvation, 
on thee may we wait all the day. Remember, 
O Lord ! thy tender mercies and thy loving 
kindnesses, for they have been ever of old. 
Remember not the sins of our youth, nor our 
transgressions ; according to thy mercy remem- 
ber thou us, for thy goodness' sake, O Lord ! 
Bless us, we beseech thee, this day and for 
ever, and with thy favour encompass us as with 
a shield. Show us the path of life, and enable 
us to set thee always before us. 

O Lord, we are weak, and unable of our- 
selves to stand,* but be thou our deliverer, our 
strong defence, and let thy strength be made 
perfect in our weakness.f 

♦ Ephes. vi. 11—13. t 2 Cor. xii 9. 

28 



218 FOURTH WEEK. 

O Lord ! who can tell how oft he offendethf 
O cleanse thou us from our secret faults. Keep 
back thy servants also from presumptuous sins. 
Help us to meditate daily in thy law, and to 
delight ourselves in thy statutes. May we 
have grace to obey thy commandment, and to 
receive the blessing from the Lord, and right- 
eousness from the God of our salvation. 

O Lord ! be thou our shepherd, and we shall 
not want. Make us to lie down in green pas- 
tures, lead us beside the still waters of comfort. 
Restore our souls, when through weakness they 
have wandered from the right way, and lead us 
in the paths of righteousness for thy name's 
sake. Let goodness and mercy follow us all 
the days of our life, and when we walk through 
the valley of the shadow of death, be thou with 
us, and let thy rod and thy staff comfort us. 

O God ! to-morrow is the rest of thy holy 
sabbath ;* prepare our hearts, we beseech thee, 
for the observance of it ; and teach us so to 
regulate our worldly business, that it may not 
interfere with the duties of thy sacred day. 
Let thy Spirit rest upon all the ministers of the 
gospel in their preparation for their holy la- 
bours, and may all christians take hold of thy 

♦ Exod. xvi. 23. 



SATURDAY EVENING. 219 

covenant, and keep the sabbath from polluting 
it* 

Hear, O Lord ! our prayer, which goeth not 
out of feigned lips, and let the words of our 
mouth, and the meditation of our heart, be ac- 
ceptable in thy sight, through Jesus Christ, our 
Strength, and our Redeemer. Amen. 



SATURDAY EVENING. 

CHIEFLY FROM THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. 

Almighty God ! who didst so love the 
world, that thou gavest thine only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life, we beseech 
thee to enable us with faith to receive Christ 
Jesus as our only Saviour, that he may give us 
power to become the sons of God. May we 
be born again of the Spirit, and let it not be 
said of us, that light is come into the world, 
and that we loved darkness rather than light, 
because our deeds were evil. May we wor- 
ship thee in spirit and in truth, and do thou 
give unto us of that living water which shall 
be in us a well of water springing up into 

• Isa. Ivi. 6. 



220 FOURTH WEEK. 

everlasting life. May we diligently search 
the scriptures with fervent prayer, for eternal 
life. O that all men might receive grace to 
come unto Christ, that they might have life. 
Thou, O Saviour! art the bread which came 
down from heaven, to give life unto the world. 
O that we, and all the children of men, might 
have our eyes opened to see thee, and our 
hearts opened to receive thee. May we feed 
on thee in our hearts by faith with thanksgiv- 
ing, that so thou mayest, on the last day, raise 
us up unto everlasting life. May we follow 
thee, the Light of the world, that we walk not 
in darkness, and may we continue in thy word, 
that we may know the truth, and that the truth 
may make us free. 

O thou good Shepherd ! who hast given 
thy life for the sheep, receive us into thy flock ; 
may we dwell safely under thy protection, and 
go in and out, and find pasture. O suffer us 
not to perish, neither let any one pluck us out 
of thy hand ; but let us be of that blessed 
number, to whom thou hast said, '' Fear not, 
little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure 
to give you the kingdom."* 

O may we so love one another, that all men 

* Luke, xii. 32. 



SATURDAY EVENINa. 221 

may know that we are thy disciples. Thou 
art the Way, the Truth, and the Life ; no man 
Cometh unto the Father but by thee. Enable 
us to follow thee, to believe in thee, to abide 
in thee, that we may bring forth much fruit, 
for without thee we can do nothing. Send 
unto us, we beseech thee, the Holy Ghost the 
Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, that he may 
guide us into all truth, that he may teach us 
all things, and bring all things to our remem- 
brance, whatsoever thou hast said unto us. 
Intercede for us, that we may be one with thee 
and the Father, that we may be kept from the 
evil of the world, that we may be sanctified 
through thy word, which is truth, and that 
after this life, we may be with thee where thou 
art, and behold thy glory. And while we are 
yet pilgrims through this vale of tears, let not 
our hearts be troubled, neither let them be 
afraid. May we be soothed in all of our suf- 
ferings and trials by that peace which thou 
givest, not as the world giveth ; and though in 
the world we may have tribulation^ yet may 
we be of good cheer knowing that thou hast 
overcome the world, and that thou art gone up 
on high to prepare a place for us, and wilt 
come again, and receive us unto thyself, that 
where thou art, there we may be also. Take 



222 A pastor's prayer. 

us and ours, under thy gracious care this night 
and bring us in safety to the morning for the 
sake of thy dear Son, our only Saviour. 
Amen. 



A PASTOR'S PRAYER. 

Almighty and most merciful God, who I 
humbly trust hast called me thy unworthy 
servant, to the ministry of the gospel, enable 
me to draw near the throne of grace and to 
receive that promised strength, which thou art 
ever ready to bestow upon thy people, and 
which I so much need in the arduous, yet 
blessed labours of the sacred office. 

O my God, I adore that grace, which has 
WTOught so wonderful a change in my heart, as 
to cause me to love that holy calling, I once 
abhorred, and to take delight in those duties 
I once despised. May the humility and fer- 
vour, the purity and zeal of my efforts to serve 
thee, bear increasing evidence both of the 
presence of thy Holy Spirit with me, and of 
my sincere desire to redeem the time, that has 
been lost. May the same good spirit make me 
truly sensible of the honour and danger of so 
great a trust, as that of the mysteries of the 



A pastor's prayer. 223 

kingdom of thy dear Son, and of the account 
I am to render to thee. 

O let me never forget, no matter where I 
am or in what I may be engaged, whether in 
my family or in society: in my study or in the 
house of God, that the vows of God are upon 
me, as one ''separated to the gospel of Jesus 
Christ." 

O Holy Spirit sanctify my heart, that no 
base or impure thought, no mean or covetous 
affections may lodge there. 

Govern my tongue, that no corrupt commu- 
nications, or sinful language may proceed out 
of my mouth: guard my eyes that they wan- 
der not after the forbidden objects of time and 
sense : Purify my hands and may they daily 
acquire more and more skill in the work of the 
Lord, grasping with joyful energy the gospel 
plough and faithfully serving him whose palms 
were nailed to the cross. Guide my feet, in 
paths of peace, of holiness and usefulness, and 
suffer me not, professing to be a guide to 
others, to go astray myself. Let me never 
follow the inclinations of corrupted nature, nor 
govern myself according to the maxims of an 
evil world. Order my whole life, that by the 
powerful influence of a good example as well 
as by my teaching, I may lead the people com- 



224 A pastor's prayer. 

mitted to my care in the ways of truth and 
eternal life : And O my God forbid that any 
irregularity in my conversation may ever ren- 
der my instructions ineffectual or the ways of 
religion to be lightly esteemed. Clothe thy 
servant, O God, with true humility : imbue his 
spirit with gospel meekness : render him pa- 
tient under injuries ; calm, in the midst of the 
exciting provocations of the world, and uncom- 
plaining when neglected by those from whom 
better things might have been expected. Ena- 
ble him to bear it in faithful memory, that the 
disciple is not above his master, and that the 
weapons of his warfare, against all who oppose 
him, are prayer, kindness, love and persuasion. 
And O, thou who art infinite in wisdom, arid 
hast promised to compassionate and strengthen 
thy ministering servants, saying " lo I am with 
you always even to the end of the w^orld," 
grant me a clear perception of the meaning of 
thy revealed will as contained in the sacred 
scriptures; and also ability to proclaim the 
whole counsel of God, to the hearts and con- 
sciences of the people of my charge. Give thy 
servant skill rightly to distribute thy word, 
and to convey it to the capacities and under- 
standings of his flock. 



A pastor's prayer. 225 

To this end, O God, anoint my soul with the 
Holy Ghost, and may my teaching and preach- 
ing, be such as may accord with the dignity 
and simplicity of sacred truth. Save me from 
pride and vanity : from prejudice and self-love: 
from all vain show of human learning or affec- 
tation of human art : and grant that the glory of 
God, in the salvation of souls through Christ 
Jesus, may be my constant motive m every 
sermon. 

O merciful God, from whom alone cometh 
the increase, grant thy blessing upon my min- 
istrations, both pulpit and pastoral : that they 
be effectual to the conviction of the careless 
and impenitent, to the awakening of the secure, 
to the comfort of the desponding, that anxious 
souls may be led to Christ Jesus, and sincere 
believers strengthened in faith and love and 
animated with zeal and fidelity in their master's 
cause. 

Assist me by thy good Spirit and with wis- 
dom from on high, that I may apply a proper 
cure for all the spiritual maladies of thy flock; 
that I may reprove with prudence and with 
mildness and like thee, my blessed master "bind 
up the broken-hearted and comfort those that 
mourn." 

Bless, O my God, the various institutions of 
29 



226 A pastor's prayer. 

pious benevolence in the Church committed to 
my care, and open tlie hearts and the hands of 
thy people to supply those means which are 
necessary to carry these good designs unto full 
effect. 

Especially would I commend to thy divine 
care, the teachers in our Sunday school, with 
the children of their charge; may the teachers 
be taught of God, and may the children be 
trained in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord. Add to their number, Oh my God, 
until there be not one child of ignorance, and 
crime in the length and breadth of our land, or 
one individual capable of teaching, reluctant to 
engage in these labours of love. 

Jesus, Lord, look with mercy upon our 
youth preparing for the gospel ministry; sanc- 
tify their persons, their studies, their motives, 
and having prepared them for their responsible 
duties, send them forth and many more with 
them, and my dear children among the number, 
as labourers unto the harvest field, for the har- 
vest is great, whilst the labourers are few. 

Nor would I limit these my imperfect 
prayers, Oh my Father, to my own pastoral 
charge, but present them for thy whole church. 
Clothe thy ministering servants with salvation, 



A pastor's prayer. 227 

and honour them as instruments of turning mul- 
titudes to the Lord Jesus. 

And O, merciful God, who showest to them 
that are in error, the light of thy truth to the 
end that they may return unto the way of right- 
eousness, grant unto all those who are admitted 
into the fellowship of Christ's religion, that 
they may avoid those things that are contrary 
to their profession and follow all such things as 
are agreeable to the same, through our Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

Remember, O Lord, the missionaries of the 
cross, comfort them in their voluntary exile 
from the home of their youth, and the privileges 
of their native land: and may they enjoy the 
unspeakable satisfaction of gathering unto thy 
fold, Christ's own sheep now scattered through 
out this sinful world. 

Look with an eye of tender compassion upon 
thine ancient people, Israel ; remove the vail 
from their hearts and cause them to know 
thy truth and acknowledge their own Messiah; 
gather them once more to thy bosom, and 
bring in also, the fulness of the Gentiles; let 
there be one fold and one Shepherd. 

Hear me, O my God, in these my feeble 
and imperfect prayers, and do far more and 
better for my people and my own soul, than I 



228 auESTioNs for self-examination. 

am able to ask or worthy to receive ; for all I 
do ask is in the name and through the merits of 
thy Son Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen. 



aUESTIONS FOR SELF-EXAMINATION. 

L Do I see and feel that I am a sinner in the 
sight of God ? 

2. Do I discover the proneness of my heart 
to evil ; that it is sinful, and must be renewed 
by the Holy Ghost ? 

3. Do I acknowledge my guilt and ingrati- 
tude before God ? 

4. Am I convinced of my own weakness: 
that if left to myself I never could save my 
soul, atone for my past sins or avoid new trans- 
gressions in future ? 

5. Am I grieved at the hardness and insensi- 
bility of my heart, and anxious to be taught by 
God's Word and Spirit, all that I should know 
and feel? 

6. Do I, by faith receive and cordially rely 
upon the Lord Jesus, as the Saviour, who 
obeyed God's law and on the Cross suffered in 
my stead : and do I trust in the merits of his 
obedience and of his sufferings, as the only and 



aUESTIONS FOR SELF-EXAMINATION. 229 

all-sufficient ground of my pardon and accept- 
ance with God? And am I desirous, publicly, 
to confess Christ ? 

7. Am I sure, that, as a sinner, conscious of 
guilt and helplessness, I am not trusting in the 
merits of my prayers or vows, or in any change 
in my feelings, but solely and entirely in Jesus, 
to save me from sin, that worst of all evils. 

8. Do I realize the necessity of the Holy 
Spirit's aid, not only to convince me of sin, but 
also to sustain me in every Christian duty ? 

9. Am I conscious of any change in my feel- 
ings towards the people of God ? Do I find 
satisfaction in their society? 1 John, iii. 14. 

10. Is Christ Jesus precious to me? 1 
Peter, ii. 7. 

11. Do I love the Saviour, and only mourn 
that I love Him so little ? John, xxi. 16. 

12. Do I practice private prayer, and daily 
read God's Word ? 

13. Do I think it will be consistent in me, 
as a professor of the name of Christ, to frequent 
the places of fashionable amusement of worldly 
people : such as theatres, balls, &c. ? 

14. Should I be ensnared by, the world, the 
wickedness of my heart, or the great adver- 
sary, what do I think ought to be my own 
opinion of my spiritual state ; and what do I 



2S0 aUESTIOKS FOB SELF-EXAMINATION. 

think ought to be the conduct of my Pastor 
towards me? 

1 5. Is it my solemn determination, in reliance 
upon the help of God, to live for Christ and 
my soul's eternal salvation. 

16- Am I willing to comply with the usages 
of this church, of which I desire to become a 
member, and to adorn the doctrine of Christ, 
by an humble and holy life ? 

n. Have I prayed over these questions, and 
answered them in the sincerity of my heart, 
before God? "Be not deceived, God is not 
mocked." 



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